Things Happen For A Reason
by Jime-GA-Lover
Summary: AU/ Lexie's a first year resident who's just trying to live her life as best as she can after a adventure in Boston goes wrong. She goes back to Seattle so her family can help her out. Mark is an attending at SGH who is surely not expecting what's about to happen.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys I'm back from my LONG hiatus of not writing (I was writing I just didn't know how to name this story). I hope you really enjoy this and I want to explain a few things. **

**1. Alex is from Seattle and went to high school with Lexie**

**2. Susan is alive**

**3. I won't update as fast as I used to**

**4. Long chapters (well so far there are only a few chapters that are shorter than 3000 words)**

**5. You guys will need to be patient**

**Hope you enjoy this story!**

* * *

CHAPTER 1

Mark, Meredith, and Derek are talking as they stand by the main entrance of the hospital. This time, Chief Webber had decided that this year's welcoming of the new interns party would be held right there at the hospital and that every doctor that wasn't on-call had to attend.

They are talking about Meredith becoming a second year resident when she stops talking and stares right ahead.

"Mer?" Derek calls waving a hand in front of her face, but as his eyes look in the same direction as hers she realizes what's going on, "Is that Lexie?" He asks.

Meredith rolls her eyes.

"Who is she?" Mark asks

"Thatcher's favorite and annoying daughter." Meredith replies.

Derek shakes his head, "Meredith met her twice when Susan invited her for a dinner to celebrate Lexie graduating from med school and coming back to Seattle. I met her once for lunch that Susan wanted Lexie to get to know Mer and me. I think she's nice, Meredith on the other hand can't stand her."

Meredith scoffs, "She's a bitch... and a whore. She couldn't stop whining about leaving to Mass. Gen. and having to leave Thatcher and Susan again, then she couldn't stop talking about Harvard Med." she shudders when she sees Lexie talking to Chief Webber and then she walks away to Alex, "Just look at her," She groaned, "I'm just gonna go." She mumbles walking away.

Mark looks at Lexie's direction, "Is she the one with the long hair, in the blue, short, one shouldered, hot, dress?" Mark asks, he immediately feels stupid about being so descriptive.

Derek nods and looks at Mark with a serious face, "Don't make a move on her," he orders him before walking towards the chief.

Mark scoffs as his friend leaves, "Wouldn't think about it, Meredith said she's a bitch, I like nice and fierce."

Derek simply shakes his head as he keeps walking away.

* * *

Lexie walks up to Alex and hugs him from behind, "Hey!"

"Hey! So you did get accepted into the program in the end," he notes.

She nods, "Yes, I'm glad I'll be able to be close to my family now. Now they can help me out and stuff." She tells him.

"What about me?" He asks her making her laugh.

"Oh yeah, cause I'd stay in Seattle for a guy I met in high school thirteen years ago." she says sarcastically.

He laughs, "You know you are into me." he plays along, "That's why we have never stopped texting or meeting whenever we can ever since."

She places a hand on his chest and sighs dramatically, "Yes babe, you got me from the beginning."

They both laugh at their little inside joke and Lexie turns around were she sees him.

"Oh my god," she says grossed out, "Is that guy flirting with all those girls?"

Alex turns around and places his hand on his hips, "Oh Sloan?" He asks her and she shrugs, recognizing that last name from somewhere, "He's a manwhore. Probably going to sleep with them all before the even ends." Lexie is not a prude, but she's not a big fan of one-night stands, not anymore, "You know he slept with Derek's ex-wife while they were still married."

Lexie's eyes widened, "That's…" She thinks for a second, "just weird." She looks at him and then sees the bar, "You know what? I'm gonna go for a drink. One won't hurt. Be right back," she says before going over to the bar located against the window where she knows the waiting area is usually located.

She orders a champagne flute and checks on her phone quickly making sure she hadn't received any messages from her mom.

She reaches out for the flute and her hands collide against someone else's. She quickly pulls her hand back and looks up.

"Sorry, you can have it," the doctor she recognizes as the manwhore says to her.

They look at each other for a second and then she answers, "Thanks…" she stays there awkwardly.

He checks her out quickly, but realizes by her raised brow that she noticed it, not knowing what to say so he makes quick conversation, "Saw you were talking to Karev," he points out, "You're friends?"

Lexie nods, "Um, I guess."

He nods back at her, "You know he just wants to get into your pants, right?"

She laughs bitterly at his hypocrisy, "Apparently he's not the only one." She grabs her flute of champagne and begins walking away, then turns around and tells him, "And by the way, he already has." This time she does keep walking away towards Alex.

Mark stays there perplexed not knowing what had just happened.

Derek comes next to him noticing Mark and Lexie were talking, "Do you still think she's a bitch?" he asks

Mark snaps out from his thoughts, "I have no idea what just happened," he says, the unspoken words being _But I want to figure it out. _

When she comes back Alex sees her a little shaken so he asks her, "What happened?"

She scoffs, "Sloan's a manwhore who checked me out and then said you wanted to get into my pants." she tells him

"What did you tell him?" He asks her.

She brings the flute close to her lips and murmurs, "Tht you 'lready hd." He hears her say.

He raises her brows reprimanding her and she pulls the flute away from her lips. "He pretty much asked for that answer… Plus it's not like he actually cares."

The music starts playing and Lexie pulls Alex into the "dance floor", seeing the guy she likes with someone else, Izzie decides to pull Mark into the dance floor with her too.

Mark stares at where Lexie and Alex are dancing, and thoughts begin to cloud his mind. _Maybe that's why things with Izzie and Alex didn't work out. Alex has been with Meredith's sister all along. _Mark soon notices that Alex is scowling at him so he scowls back.

"Sloan is pouting at us." Alex tells Lexie. They both laugh at Sloan's sour faces.

When Mark sees them laughing he gets pissed off, and he doesn't even why, but he does. He grabs Izzie a little closer and begins dancing more. Izzie not knowing what the hell is going on just follows through.

Alex turns them around so that Lexie can face Mark, as soon as they do this Lexie sees Izzie's face getting closer and closer to Mark's. Soon they are just a few inches away from kissing.

Mark is caught off guard when he sees her face inches away from his, but just as the blonde had done before he follows through.

Lexie tells Alex what's about to happen and before she knows it Alex is walking towards them with his hands into fists. Soon he punches "Sloan" right in his forehead and they both are on the floor, punches flying everywhere.

Lexie begins stressing when she sees Izzie run outside of the hospital; she tries to stop them by calling Alex's name but nothing works. Not knowing what else to do since no one seemed to try to stop it she pulls Sloan off of Alex.

"What the–" Lexie begins but is interrupted.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" The three of them hear Chief Webber yell behind them. "Sloan! Karev! Get the hell out of here and go to the ER to get those injuries fixed. Grey! You go with them and you fix them up!" As he walks away they can hear him muttering, "Lord this is a damn zoo!"

Mark, Lexie, and Alex all walk into the ER and enter one of the trauma rooms.

Lexie begins assessing the injuries. Alex has a black eye, and his hand is most probably injured. She hands him an ice pack and then moves to Mark. He has a laceration in his forehead and another across his lips. She moves to get suturing kit and begins opening, but Mark stops her before she can do anything else.

"What?" she asks.

"Sloan is the best plastic surgeon in the country." Alex tells her.

She nods and begins cleaning his cuts, and then she touches his lips carefully and gets closer to get a look. She doesn't notice him when he is also looking at her. Her eyes. Her lips. Her slightly noticeable freckles.

Alex notices this and gets a little uncomfortable; he stands up and excuses himself saying he has to go follow Izzie. He kisses Lexie on the side of her head and grunts at Mark before leaving.

Mark also stands up to stitch himself up. Lexie takes his sit and watches as his hands work in such a synchronized manner.

"Why did you kiss Izzie?" She asks him not knowing what else to say. She knows that leaving would be inappropriate since she had been asked to take care of their injuries, but she didn't enjoy the deafening silence.

He looks at her as he works on his forehead in front of the mirror, "We didn't kiss, and I don't like Karev so I wouldn't care if we had."

She nods, "Why are you doing a square knot suture instead of a one-hand tie?" she asks him deciding to change topics.

He looks at her, "You know about sutures?" she nods in response.

"I was the best in my class," she tells him proudly, "Never left any scars on anyone."

He hands her the suturing kit once he's done with his forehead and takes a sit next to her, "I like my lips and many other women do too. Don't ruin them."

She nods and works on them carefully and slowly, "Just tell me if it hurts."

He doesn't answer; he isn't really feeling much pain at all.

As she is finishing she stares at his bluish gray eyes, "I didn't sleep with Alex, in case you were wondering. I don't think he would actually want to sleep with me," she tells him wanting to clarify the blatant lie she had told him earlier.

Mark looks at her and raises his brows, but lowers them realizing it hurts, "I'm sorry, but why wouldn't he want to sleep with you? I mean you are good looking," he tells her.

She blushes when she hears him and turns around placing the tools on the table, actions that don't go unnoticed by Mark. When she turns back around a little less blushed she tells him stuttering, "F–Firstly, Alex is into Izzie, my "good lookingness" isn't really the problem, secondly I can't have sex at the moment, and thirdly, is that really what you guys look in a girl before sleeping with them?" She asks him, not realizing she was asking him a question she had had in mind ever since her last one night stand.

Mark thinks for a second and then shrugs, "If it is just for sleeping then yes, we just care about your hotness, but if it's for an actual relationship we look for the whole package." He tells her.

"Which would be…?" She asks.

"You know, someone with a good heart, smart, funny, loving, good looks are usually just a bonus." He tells her.

She nods trying to wrap her mind around what he just told her, "Well I seem to only be good looking then." she murmurs.

He furrows his brows this time not really caring about the small pain, "Why can't you have sex?" He asks, but then corrects himself, "You don't have to tell me, I'm sure that's personal thing you don't have to answer me."

She shakes her head, "It's not really that much of a personal question, and much less how gossip seems to spread faster than diseases around this place. I mean I had come once and many people already knew I was getting accepted here instead of going to Mass. Gen." she rambles, but swats her hand in front of her face, "Anyway, I can't have sex because I just had a baby. He's one month and a half." Mark's eyes widened and his mouth almost hits the floor, "I know… Poor Lexie Grey has a bastard baby and has to stay in Seattle so that she has someone to help take care of him from time to time since she seems to have forgotten what a condom is."

Mark tries to talk but he can't seem to make up any words.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my son, I just wish I knew who the father is so I could just tell him. That's why I'm so close to Alex, other than being best friends since high school he was the first person to get to Harvard to help me out in my last months of pregnancy." She tells him

"You just had a baby?" He asks dumbfounded.

She nods, "I guess that's what I've been saying." She says softly as she checks the sutures in his lips.

"You don't look like you just had a baby," he notes.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," she tells him.

"That's what I meant, I know people who don't recover from pregnancy until years later, and yet you are wearing a skin tight dress." He tells her.

She smiles, "Thanks… I guess."

"How old are you?" He asks her.

She tries to avoid the question, "So you are friends with Derek and Meredith? What has she said about me? That I'm a bitch? A whore?" she asks.

"Both," Mark tells her, "But honestly you don't seem like either."

Lexie shakes her head, "I don't think I'm a bitch, but I'm beginning to think I might be a whore."

"Having one-night stands doesn't make you a whore." He tells her, "Not anyone at least, my case is different most definitely," he tells her. She shrugs, "You didn't answer my question… How old are you?"

She swallows, "Twenty-four," she tells him.

He nods, he couldn't believe that this smart, beautiful, young girl had a baby and was standing up for what happened, taking responsibility about it. "What's his name?" He asks her.

She smiles as she thinks of her baby boy and he can notice her eyes begin to glow, "Zack. Zachary," she tells him.

"That's a nice name, I actually really like it," he tells her. "Did you give him your last name?" he asks.

She shakes her head, "I remember his father's name, but he didn't seem like the kind of guy to settle down and have a kid so his life is probably better off not knowing–though I guess he deserves to know–but I still gave Zack his father's last name." she looks at him, "He's actually also a plastic surgeon, he came to Boston during August for a conference and I was at the bar were he went afterwards… we hit it off immediately."

He nods remembering that conference; there had been many plastic surgeons there, "What's his last name?" He asks, "Or maybe it's too personal again…"

She's about to respond when she feels her phone vibrating against her leg, she takes it out and reads the message, "I should get going. My mom's tired and Zack is being a bad boy, he's probably hungry," she mutters as she heads to the door. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow…?"

"Mark. Mark Sloan." He tells her.

Her face goes pale and she can feel her hands begin to tingle as they seem to begin going numb. She nods quickly and without looking back she hurries off to her car.

He tries to go after her but she's gone before he gets to the door, "I hope I see you tomorrow," He whispers.

_Mark. Mark Sloan. _The name can't stop ringing through her ears.

* * *

**I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter... I had so much fun writing this one.**

**Please review, tell me what you thought about it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! I hope you guys aren't too sad, I can truly say that I was expecting that to happen, but it was still just too horrible! I cried my eyes out. I was so mad because Eric, Chyler, and Shonda should've talked about them leaving together to New York (or anywhere!)**

**Anyway, I was planning on posting this tomorrow, but seeing that I know I need some good things to happen, then I think that I should at least give you this today. I was going to separate it, but then it didn't seem right.**

**I do have to tell you it does not end in the happiest note, but it's not sad either... You could call it frustrating :P**

* * *

CHAPTER 2

Mark Sloan goes back to the party, he places his fingers on his lips softly trying to feel her touch, it had been so delicate.

He had been dumbfounded with her reaction when he told her his name and he couldn't help but thinking that he knew her from somewhere.

"Are you feeling better?" Derek asks as both him and Meredith walk up to Mark.

He nods, "Did you know Lexie has a kid?" he asks them.

Derek and Meredith nod, "He is the most adorable baby I've seen," Derek answers, "And he barely misbehaves."

Meredith scoffs, "His father disappeared because he didn't want to procreate with her and didn't want anything to do with their spawn. I'll say it again: she's a whore."

Derek shakes his head but before he can interject Mark does, "She had a one-night stand," he says defensively.

"Really?" She asks.

Mark nods.

"She told us that it was her ex-boyfriend's, how did you get her to tell you?" Derek asks.

He shrugs, "We were just talking. By the way do you know his last name? She left before answering."

Meredith shrugs, "She never told us, though I do know his initials are Z.S. Since I saw them on his diaper bag."

Derek laughs at his thoughts, "Careful, it could be a Sloan," that makes Mark roll his eyes. "Well the baby was born right, and he's one month and a half, so that means he was conceived in September," Derek proceeds trying to piss Mark off, "Did you sleep with anyone when you were in Boston for the conference?"

Mark raises his brows not believing his friend felt the need to ask him.

"Right, why did I even ask?" He thinks out loud.

The three of them leave the hospital later as the party dies down. At The Archfield, Mark can't stop thinking about the new, intriguing, young intern.

* * *

When Lexie gets home she goes to her room and picks a crying Zack from his crib after she changes into her pajamas, and begins crying with him, she puts him against herself and begins feeding him, "I love you baby, I really do. No matter what happens, I'm going to try to fix this mess. You will get to meet you daddy," she whispers kissing his little head.

* * *

_She is sitting on a stool at the bar, she had just finished a huge test and was celebrating on her own since she seemed to be the only one that passed with an excellent grade._

_A tall, good-looking man stands next to her as he asks for a scotch._

"_May I take a sit?" He asks_

_She nods, "Sure."_

_He eyes her drink, "Vodka? Isn't that a little too much for someone your age?"_

_She glares at him, "__**What**__ age exactly?"_

_He shrugs, "I don't know, how old are you?"_

"_Twenty-three." She tells him, "What about you?"_

_He smirks, "Older."_

_She smirks back and extends her hand, "Lexie Grey."_

_He accepts it, "Mark. Mark Sloan."_

* * *

"_Okay! I am tired of this, Lexie!" Corinne exclaims when she enters their room. "I know we aren't B-F-F-s or something, but I'm tired of this. Do you need me to call Mike? Cause I'll do it if I have to… Or do you want me to call Jake or Alex?"_

_Lexie looks up from bed where she was laying all sprawled with her under the pillow, "What the fuck are you talking about?" She whines._

"_I'm talking about you sleeping all day and puking all over the bathroom," Corinne tells her. "It's gross. I swear you need to go see a doctor or something."_

"_I'm fine. I have the flu or something," Lexie says half asleep._

_Corinne walks over to her and removes her pillow, "Are you pregnant?"_

"_No, I'm just sick," she replies covering her head with her hands. "Throwing up and being tired doesn't mean I'm pregnant."_

"_No," Corinne says, "But missing your period does."_

"_I didn't miss my period."_

"_Oh yeah you did, I'm your roommate, I know your cycle because we are synchronized and I can tell you there is double the amount of tampons inside the box," Corinne tells her. "I've been trying to be nice about this, but you are the one graduating as a doctor so do the math!"_

"_I'm not pregnant!"_

"_Yes you are!" Corinne exclaims, "Go use the emergency pregnancy test and I'm not taking no for an answer."_

"_This is stupid! I'll take it and you are going to realize that I'm not pregnant," Lexie groans as she gets up from bed and walks to the bathroom. "Where is it?"_

"_Under the sink by the tampons and condoms," Corinne answers entering the bathroom and grabbing her cellphone before walking out. _

"_This is useless," Lexie mutters as she opens the box and quickly reads the instructions._

_After a minute she's out._

"_Where's the test?" Corinne asks her._

"_There," Lexie says pointing towards the bathroom, "I have to wait five minutes."_

"_When was the last time you had sex?"_

_Lexie shrugs, "Jake."_

"_You guys broke up over four months ago," Corinne notes. "Are you sure Jake was the last person you slept with."_

"_The day after the test," Lexie tells her, "But that was a one-night stand."_

_Corinne places her hands on her hips, "Oh so you can't get pregnant from a one-night stand then?"_

_Lexie groans, "I'm not so stop using that word! Everything's like it should be, including my uterus, I might have the flu or something," she says as she walks away and sit in her bed. "Everything's fine," she mutters._

_After five minutes of waiting her phone alarm goes off and she walks over to the bathroom slowly where Corinne is waiting. She grabs the test and looks at it. She begins shaking her head slowly and then Corinne asks._

"_You're not pregnant?"_

_Lexie shakes her head, and passes her the test before walking to her bed and throwing herself._

_Corinne walks next to her and sits down rubbing Lexie's back when she notices that she started crying, "Oh Lexie, don't worry. _

_She had been stalling for her first trimester. She didn't tell anyone because she didn't want to cause her parents and friends the unnecessary pain incase she miscarried, but now she knows that the chances of such things happening are much less than before._

_She picks up the phone, trying to remain as calm as she can, but finds it pretty difficult. Doing it as fast as she can, so she won't regret it, she dials her parent's house phone number and presses the call button._

* * *

_She has always been the perfect daughter, or at least her parents always told her so. She had had boyfriends, but she was focused on what she wanted. She was her class' valedictorian, and she had been homecoming queen. She had never let anything get in the way of what she wanted… Not until now._

_Even though her dad picks up before the third ring, she feels like it's forever before he does so._

"_Lexie? How are you doing sweetheart__?" Her dad asks her and she can sense that he is excited to hear from her._

"_Is mom there? Can you call her and put her on speaker please? I need to talk to the two of you," she answers._

"_Your mom's right next to me, and you are on speaker now. Is everything all right? Are you okay?__" He asks her._

"_Lexie, is everything in order?__" Susan asks her._

_Lexie tries to stop the tears that are threatening to spill down her face, but finds it harder, "I'm so sorry," she says. Her voice is hoarse and low from crying._

"_Lexie, what happened?__" She hears her mom ask her softly._

_She tries to breathe, but it's shaky and she's sure that made her parents even more worried._

"_I'm so sorry mommy, I'm so sorry," she keeps on saying. "Please forgive me."_

"_Lexie are you in trouble? Do you need help or something? Is it your classes?__" Thatcher asks her._

"_Daddy, please don't get mad," she begs._

"_Lexie, if you don't tell us what's going on we will get mad, because we are getting quite concerned right now,__" her mom tells her._

"_I'm pregnant," she tells them._

"_Is it Jake's?__" Her mom asks her._

"_No," she answers._

_There is silence on the other side of the line, and she knows that her parents want an explanation._

"_Okay…" she begins, but the tears are full on. "I w–went out to dri–nk on my own since I–I was celebrating because I go–got a perfect score on my test, and I–I had too much to drink and I th–ink you guys know the r–rest."_

"_How far along?__" Thatcher asks her._

"_Three months," she answers, her voice below a whisper._

"_Lexie, we are not mad at you,__" Susan begins. "__It's unfortunate, yeah, but we have to deal with it. All of us. You know that we love you so much, and we will love that baby of yours too… I can't say that we are over-the-moon, but things happen for a reason, so we just have to wait and see what will happen.__"_

"_We love you so much Lexie, and we would love it if you would send us information and pictures of the baby,__" Thatcher tells her._

"_Thank you so much," she whispers. "I will send you the pictures in about an hour… And I know it's not right, but I would really appreciated if you didn't tell anything to Alex. I don't know how he'll react and I just need time to prepare myself."_

"_Sure thing, sweetheart,__" Susan responds, "__We hope to hear about you soon.__"_

"_Bye guys, I love you," she says before hanging up and placing a hand on her flat stomach. "I guess you happened for a reason," she whispers before lying down on her bed, wanting to take a nap so badly._

* * *

"I'm so sorry," She whispers to her now sleeping son.

The door opens and her mom comes in with Alex, "Lexie? Alex is here." She tells her daughter. She puts her pajama shirt back when she sees them both and nods for Alex to enter.

Alex notices her teary eyes and sits in her bed in front of her.

Lexie looks at him, "Zachary Sloan is Mark Sloan's son," she tells him.

Alex looks at the baby, "I knew his last name, but you never told me his father's name."

"You couldn't put two and two together once you knew a manwhore whose last name is Sloan, that went to Boston around the time this baby was conceived?" She asks him slightly mad.

He shrugs, not taking her tone personal, "I guess I couldn't, I never really related him to Sloan, I mean look at Zack, he has dark eyes and the only thing that's close to Sloan is the blonde hair."

She nods and looks at her baby, "He has his father's nose," she notes as she touches her son's soft face.

Alex tilts his head to get a better look, "He does."

Lexie looks back at him, "How did it go with Izzie?" She asks.

He shrugs, "She told me that she got jealous and I told her that you've been my best friend since high school and that I love you as a sister."

"Aww…" She says placing her head on his shoulder still holding Zack, "You are my best friend too."

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" He asks her, "I mean you are starting tomorrow and you need your rest." He tells her.

She stands up and places Zack in his crib, "He is so gorgeous," she murmurs softly.

"Did you hear me?" Alex asks.

She gets under the covers of her bed, "I don't want to go… I don't know how I'm going to tell Dr. Sloan that we had a one-night stand and I got pregnant form it. I was talking to him and I couldn't even remember who he was until he told me his first name. I recognized Sloan, but I didn't recognize _him_. I mean he doesn't remember he slept with me, we were _that_ drunk."

Alex lies next to her and begins stroking her hair, "Just sleep and you'll figure it out."

Lexie looks at him, "Do you know who my resident will be?"

"I don't know, I doubt it'd be Meredith, but who knows. Now go to sleep," he orders turning of the lights.

The next morning she wakes up to Zack's gibberish, her son was so advanced for being just a month and a half old and she loved it.

She picks him up and goes downstairs. Her father is eating pancakes with Alex as they discuss about some game, her mom is preparing her some eggless pancakes.

She sits in front of Alex and her father.

"What's wrong with you baby?" Thatcher asks her as he sees her eyes are red like they always are when she cries.

She shakes her head and waits for her mom to finish cooking and sit next to her, she knew her mom hadn't really been in favor of the whole pregnancy because Susan didn't like one-night stands, she didn't mind if Lexie had sex with a boyfriend, but she did mind if it was some guy she had just met.

"Yesterday I saw Zack's father," she tells them, "He is a plastic surgeon at Seattle Grace, and I know I didn't remember what he looked like, but he didn't even remember my name," she says as she begins crying, "I mean, how can I tell him that we slept together and now he's a father. I was talking to him about Zack before he told me his name and I told him that Zack's father didn't seem like the kind of guy to settle down. How can I tell him that I regret what I said and that I would like him to be in our son's life?"

Thatcher reaches out for her arms and pats it softly; Susan takes Zack from Lexie to let her eat.

"I already told you that you'll figure it out, and no matter what happens you have your mom and your dad and me on your side, now, say goodbye to your parents and go get Zack's bag, I'm taking you to the hospital today." Alex orders.

Susan smiles at Alex, she had always hoped Alex and Lexie would get together. She knew Alex had a bad childhood, and that he had some problems of his own, but she loved him as her own son ever since Lexie brought him home to work on a science project. He had always been so supportive of Lexie and was always there for her and always supported her decisions no matter what happened.

"Thank you Alex," Susan says as she gives him Zack.

Alex cradles him in his arms as Lexie comes down the stairs with the diaper bag.

* * *

Lexie, Alex, and Zack arrive at the hospital fifteen minutes later, Lexie grabs the bag and they walk towards the elevator.

As the elevator door begins to close, they see an arm stop it, and no one other than Mark and Derek get in the elevator.

Alex places his hand on Lexie's back to try to stop her from collapsing.

Derek and Mark turn towards them, "How are you doing?" Derek asks.

Lexie nods and realizes she has to actually say something, she shakes her head trying to clear it and responds, "I–I'm good."

Mark looks at the baby in her arms, "Is that Zack?" He asks that.

Lexie looks at Mark and he can relate her to a deer in headlights, she swallows and then answers, "Yeah," she doesn't know whether to let Mark hold him or to just keep with her "peaceful" ride, so she lowers him a little so both Mark and Derek can see him.

Derek coos at the little baby and Mark just looks at him, "He is really an adorable baby."

"See?" Derek asks Mark, "I told you he might as well be a Sloan."

Lexie swallows loudly this time and Alex moves his hand near her shoulder blades.

"Did you just call me a cute baby?" Mark asks Derek, who just laughs at his best friends annoyed look. Mark looks at Lexie apologetically, "He's been saying that he's probably mine because he expects a million of Sloan kids to be running around the world," he explains. "Don't mind him." He tells her glaring at Derek.

The elevator gives out a "ping" and Lexie is grateful for that.

"Bye," Derek and Mark say in unison.

"Bye," Lexie says as Alex just keeps walking.

"Had you seen the baby before?" Mark asks.

Derek nods his head, "I told you, I met him once when I had lunch with Lexie and Susan."

Mark turns to look at Derek, "You should cut it out with the jokes of that baby being mine," Mark tells him.

"Why?" Derek asks grinning.

"Because that's just scary," Mark tells him, "I mean the possibility of me sleeping with Lexie Grey when I was in Boston and then having a baby is just weird, plus she would've recognized me."

* * *

Lexie left Zack at the nursery and Alex accompanied her to the interns' locker room after he changed scrubs, neither of them said a word until now.

"Do you think he knows?" She asks him.

He hugs her, "Don't worry Lexiepedia," he tells her, "I have to go outside because we are getting our interns assigned."

She nods as he walks away.

Not even five minutes go by before she hears her name being called. She follows the voice outside of the locker room and sees an Asian woman calling her name.

"You're Lexie Grey?" She asks.

Lexie nods, "Yeah…"

"I'm Dr. Yang, your resident." She says.

They go to rounds and every intern is assigned to a case except Lexie, she had been debating whether or not asking Dr. Yang, but when it becomes evident that she has been forgotten she asks, "Dr. Yang, I answered all of the questions correctly, why haven't I been assigned to a case?"

"You are Meredith's half sister, right?" She asks.

Lexie nods.

"And you have a baby?" Cristina asks.

"Yeah… Does that mean I'm not getting assigned to any case?"

Cristina shakes her head, "No, you are going to be working with me and Dr. Sloan today in a very important surgery," she says as she opens the door to a patient room where Lexie can see a man in a coma with his both arms barely hanging on by threads of muscles. She looks to her side and is surprised to see Dr. Sloan there. She knew by Dr. Yang that he would be there, but she was still surprised.

Cristina passes the chart to Lexie and asks her to present.

"He's in a coma," Lexie whispers.

Mark moves across the room, "It's not for him, you need to impress me to see if you'll be able to assist or not," he explains. "Every year an intern gets to do a solo surgery, this time we changed things around a bit and decided that we'd let one lucky intern assist on either a once in a life time surgery or in a very complex one. You also told me yesterday that you are good with sutures and I noticed as well, so present," he orders her.

She clears her throat, "Jeremy Richards, 32, admitted today after being found near a dumpster severely wounded. Both arms are holding on by muscle and had to have an emergency surgery earlier with Dr. Webber because it was found that he had consumed balloons of… cocaine?" She finishes as she hands Cristina the chart.

Mark nods approvingly, "Great job Dr. Grey. If you aren't too shocked by this case I'd like you to assist me in surgery after lunch."

_Great more time with Dr. Sloan,_ Lexie thinks sarcastically, "Thank you Dr. Sloan," she says as the three of them leave the room.

After spending her lunch with Alex in the nursery with Zack and explaining everything that had happened she gets ready to go to the OR. Alex insists on going since he is pretty much doing scut, and then tells her he is going to bring Zack with him. "That way he'll get to see both mommy and daddy in action," he says intending every single pun that could be imagined.

Lexie hurries to the scrub room in OR 3, and then enters the room.

"Dr. Grey," Mark greets with a small smile, "Seems like you've got quite an audience up there," he says pointing at Alex and Zack.

She looks up to the gallery and smiles at them, "Thank you," she says to them.

"Our pleasure," she can hear Alex saying through the intercom.

The surgery advances slowly, she can't help but looking at Mark. She hopes that Zack looks like him, it is definite that he has brown eyes, but she hopes his hair stays blonde and that his nose stays the same as his father's. Maybe he'll grow to be a surgeon like his parents, maybe he'll be the best plastic surgeon of his time, and from what Lexie had heard during lunch, Mark is also an ENT… Zack will probably end up going into surgery.

"Dr. Grey?" Mark calls snapping her out of her bubble.

She looks down at the last arm they were reattaching embarrassed that Mark had probably seen her staring at him and then looks back up, "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" She asks.

"I was saying that you did a great job reconnecting the blood vessels and that you have great suturing techniques," he repeats himself.

She smiles, "Thanks."

"I also asked you if you'd mind going for a drink afterwards to celebrate?" He asks her.

Lexie looks up at Alex as if asking for his opinion. He simply shrugs and says, "If you want to go I can take him home and wait for you there," Lexie glares at him. She doesn't want to go because of what happened between them, and then Mark not being able to remember that. She is also sure that she'll end up saying something she isn't ready to say.

She looks back at Mark, "Sure," she answers.

Mark smiles and begins walking to the scrub room, Lexie follows him, "You know you won't get sex from me, right?" _Not after last time_.

Mark smirks, "I know, you told me yesterday you just had a baby, plus I'm not asking you to go for a drink to get laid."

Lexie smiles at him "Right."

* * *

That night Lexie arrives at Joe's, she sees Mark sitting on a stool nursing a scotch, she stands beside him and asks Joe for a vodka.

"May I take a sit?" She asks trying to see if he remembers.

He nods, then he looks at her drink as she takes a sit, "Vodka?" he asks, "Isn't that a little too much for someone like you?" He asks her and for a second she is sure he remembers but then his face says something different.

"Nope. Just what I need," she informs him.

"So were did you have Zachary?" He asks, "Here or in Boston?" he asks.

She smiles, "In New York, actually. I had already finished Med School and Alex and I decided to go over to New York, I couldn't fly so having him here wasn't really in the cards unless I was up for long hours sitting down...Zack didn't allow much of it. I was actually going to have him in Boston, but Alex and I decided to go to New York like right when I was nine months along," she explains.

He nods, "I love New York, I think that's one of the best places you can be born in. _I _was born there."

"I guess it is a good place," she says.

"So Alex was with you when Zack was born?" He asks.

She looks at him, "Why the sudden interest in my son and I?" she asks.

He shrugs, "Curiosity, it never hurt anyone," he tells her.

"Tell that to the cat," she tells him making him laugh, "Alex flew over to Boston as soon as I told him I was pregnant... I was eight months along. I didn't tell my parents until I was past my first trimester, I just didn't know how, but I couldn't tell Alex because he is like a brother to me, I didn't know how he'd react, so I just waited until it was just impossible not do tell him."

"That's why he was gone for part of his internship" Mark notes and Lexie nods in response.

"I told him not to," she says, "I mean I would've hated him having to repeat his intern year because of me."

Mark looks at her, "Is that why you haven't told the father yet?" He asks.

Lexie takes a big sip of her vodka, she thinks for a minute before answering, at least this way she'd know, "How would you react if they told you that you had a one-night stand with a girl probably more than ten years younger than you and that she got pregnant from that? From a night you practically can't even remember because the two of you were _that _drunk? Because I don't know how he would react, from what I saw he didn't seem like he wanted to settle down any time soon. A baby would ruin it all for him."

Mark looks at her, "I honestly have no clue how I'd react, all I know is that I would definitely own up to it and do my best not to take it out on the baby nor the mom. I would try to give the baby the father he or she deserves." he tells her. Lexie looks at him with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry," he begins, "I didn't mean to make you c–"

"No, it's fine, but how do you know that's what would happen? You can say one thing but do something completely different," she argues.

"I don't know," he says reaching out for her hand and taking it in his.

She shakes her head, "You just got a concussion yesterday, aren't you supposed _not_ be drinking alcohol?" she asks.

"We aren't talking about me so don't you dare change topics, plus you are probably breastfeeding so you shouldn't be either." Mark smirks, "And I don't know, I guess I'd have to be in such a position to be able to know how I'd feel and react." Lexie nods. "Do you need to talk some more? We could go to my hotel; I could give you a ride home afterwards… And I promise no sex." He smirks once more.

Lexie nods thinking of taking advantage of the situation.

* * *

After a few minutes in the car they arrive at The Archfield and Mark leads Lexie to his room. Once in there he tells her to take a sit and orders some drinks for both of them.

After nursing a beer for a few minutes Lexie decides to talk again. "You were at the conference in Boston about plastic surgery, right? The one that was held in August?" She asks, and he nods, "I was at a bar that night, you sat next to me…" she begins.

"Lexie," Mark tells her, "I know you want to tell the father, using me as a bait won't work."

She shakes her head, "You were extremely drunk because you were supposed to be heading back to Seattle but your flight got cancelled." Her eyes begin watering

Mark remembers that bit, but like he told her, he knows she just wants to use him as a bait, that way she'll know how this guy will react about it, "Lexie…" He says again.

"No, just shut up and listen. All I remember of that night was before we headed to your hotel, you presented yourself the same way you did last night," she begins sobbing now, "That's why I left… Wh–when you s–said your name, it hit m–me. Zack's last name is Sl–Sloan."

Mark's eyes widen but he feels like this whole thing has to do with her vodka from earlier and her beer from now.

"I couldn't tell you be–ecause I knew that you wouldn't wa–want a family. Y–you enjoy your li–fe of being with dif–fferent women. All I c–ould remember was your name and I couldn't mus–uster the strength to tell you." As soon as those words leave her mouth she breaks down crying. She had been carrying so much and she was relieved she could tell him.

Mark moves next to her and hugs her, "Lexie… you need to tell the father. You can't trick me into believing that Zack is my son. I was there at that conference, and I did get drunk, but I can't remember of anything."

"That's what I told you! I couldn't remember you either! I just remembered your name!" She exclaims, she grabs her coat and purse and heads to the door, "I'll take a cab," she tells him as she walks out of his room and closes the door behind her.

Mark comes running out, "Lexie!"

"What?" She asks turning around halfway through the hall.

"Don't do this, if you need help, I'll help you talk to the father. I probably know him, I knew everyone at that conference," he tells her,

"Of course you know him, it's you! He looks just like you for god's sake!" she says as she walks towards the elevator and calls a cab.

As soon as she gets home she goes up to her room to find Alex reading the book she keeps on her nightstand. She changes into her pajamas and crawls next to him.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

She shakes her head, "I told him," she whispers.

She can feel him tense underneath her, "What did he do?" he asks through his gritted teeth.

"He thought I was testing him to see how the "father" would react," she holds onto his arm. "He didn't believe me even when I told him Zack's last name."

He grabs the book with one hand and uses the other to pat her arm softly, "Shh-sh" he says.

"You should get going home," she tells him.

"Nah, I picked up some clothes on my way over and your mom knows I would most likely stay, now go to bed," he whispers.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this! Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update, but like I've said I'm not going to be updating weekly like I used to for my other stories. I was going to update earlier today, but there was an earthquake (we've been having many lately... I live in Costa Rice, the country of volcanoes, earthquakes, and lots of rain!), and I was in my writing class so I got super distracted and couldn't finish my assignment and I had to send it to my teacher before the day ended... I just got home from cheer practice (we have Nationals on November 24!) and sent it to my teacher and I could finally finish this.**

**Some of you guys might be interested on where I stand were Grey's is involved so I just want to say that I don't plan on stop watching it any time soon. I can't say that I enjoy it as much as I did before. Honestly I'm enjoying Revenge MUCH more (I can't wait for the next episode!).**

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and please review and brighten my week!**

**P.S. Mark is doing something illegal on this chapter!**

* * *

CHAPTER 3

Mark sits on his bed the rest of the night not being able to turn off his brain. What Lexie had said had been awfully accurate. He had indeed gotten extremely pissed off so he drank way too much. He also remembered that he had woken up the next day to take a shower and he had seen a girl, and from what he did remember seeing it resembled Lexie a lot… Maybe that's from where she seemed familiar. But what are the odds of something like that happening? _Slim to none,_ he thinks.

Thoughts flood his mind throughout the entire night, he had started to like Lexie, and even if she had a baby, he didn't see anything wrong about hanging out with her. If things progressed he probably wouldn't mind being something more, and even if he had just seen Zack once, he could grow to love him… Alex surely did.

_Karev_, another thought that didn't leave his head. _What if Lexie and Alex became something more than friends? Why am I even thinking about this? I just met her_. He shouldn't think about her, especially since Derek had told him not to try any moves on her.

* * *

The next day, as normal, he drives over to the hospital, but this time he is in the worst state ever; emotionally and physically.

He waits behind the nurse station until he is sure Lexie and Alex go up the elevator. He doesn't want to make Lexie embarrassed about what she had said the night before, he wouldn't like to see someone he told such thing any time afterwards.

When he finally sees her go up to the elevator he can only see her. No baby. No Alex. Just her. He thinks about just going, he can't just avoid her forever, but as soon as he sees Alex later catching up with her and sees him carrying Zack he decides better not to.

The morning and afternoon go by quickly for both Mark and Lexie, neither of them had caught a glimpse of each other. Mark is relieved; Lexie on the other side can't stop but having a nagging feeling.

Her suspicion is soon confirmed as she receives a 911 page to the nursery. She is having a small snack so she quickly stands up and leaves her food. Alex hurries behind her. In less than a couple minutes both of them are right outside of the nursery.

"What happened?" Lexie yells at one of the ladies inside.

She comes to the door and opens it, "Dr. Grey, Dr. Karev, Zack won't stop crying. I was changing his diaper and he was moving his legs so I held them and he seems to be in pain," says the young lady who was running the daycare/nursery.

Lexie feels like her legs are going to give out on her, so Alex runs to the phone to page the ER.

"I need you to get Dr. Torres right now, tell her that we are heading up with a newborn from the nursery with a possible dislocated femur," he yells at the nurse on the other side of the line.

Alex grabs one of the mobile cribs and delicately places Zack there, he holds Lexie's hand and pushes the crib towards the elevator, "Don't worry, it's probably nothing."

* * *

"Dr. Torres they are bringing a newborn from the nursery, seems like a femur dislocation," says the nurse behind the counter.

Callie turns over to Mark and sighs exasperated, "See what I'm telling you?" She asks him, "There is nothing interesting going on today… I bet that the younger Grey is having a better day than me today, and Cristina seems to be doing her life a living hell at the moment."

Mark nods, "I don't know, my day has been ok. I have surgery in about one hour and a half and then I have to finish a presentation for the board and I'm done for the day." He tells her with a smug grin deciding to ignore the comment about Lexie.

The elevator 'pings' and Alex comes out pushing a crib, they can here the baby crying and he walks over to Callie.

"The lady from the nursery was changing his diaper and pulled his leg too hard evidently, he isn't able to move it," Alex says, his anger getting the best of him.

Callie walks over and Mark having nothing to do accompanies her. He freezes for a second.

"That's Lexie's kid," he whispers to himself.

Alex simply looks at him, "No shit Sherlock. Why else would I be here so pissed off?"

"Where is Lexie?" Callie asks.

"She's coming."

"Ok, let's get him into one of the trauma rooms to give you guys more privacy," Callie tells Alex.

He nods and enters the room leaving the door open for Lexie to come in.

Not even a minute later she runs into the room, she looks even paler and her hands and voice are shaking, "I–I'm sorry, I had to fill out some in–information."

Alex hugs her tightly and looks at Callie, "Is it dislocated?"

Callie nods, "Yeah, I have to relocate this back in, but I'd rather take him up to an OR so he can be anesthetized and he won't be in more pain, but before I take him I'll just do a quick check up on him," she says as she moves some of his joints in weird angles.

"What are you doing?" Lexie asks softly. Mark, who's right outside of the room, can barely hear her.

"Lexie, he might have Hyper-mobility Syndrome, that'd be why he got his leg dislocated so easily," Callie explains, "Though we can't know for sure until he's at least six to eight years old, it could just be caused by the common flexibility babies have since they have more bones and they are softer."

Lexie looks confused and so does Alex, "What do you mean? HMS is a genetic condition, I've known Lexie and her family forever and none of them are this flexible. Lexie is the most flexible out of them all, like very flexible... but she developed it because she was a cheerleader."

"What about you?" Callie asks Alex.

"What about me?" He asks her.

"Do you have Hyper-mobility?" She asks.

Alex looks at her as she had three heads, "I'm not Zack's father," he says wanting to say much more about it but he knows this isn't the moment.

Callie looks at him and gives him an apologetic look.

"Well then what about the father?" Callie asks.

Lexie shrugs, "He's out of the picture, I have no idea of any of his genetic conditions," she says indifferently.

On the other side of the room Mark is about to claw his eyes out, _I have Hyper-mobility!_ He wants to hit something. He wants to hit anything. Every passing second is another confirmation of what Lexie had said.

"Ok…" Callie says a little uncomfortable being around that much unknown, she grabs the chart and places it under her arm, Alex and her push the crib towards the elevators to take Zack to the OR.

* * *

"Is he prepped?" Callie asks entering the OR, the anesthesiologist nods, she looks up to were the gallery is in the other ORs just to make sure once again that there is no gallery in this one. It's a simple, non-dangerous procedure, other than the anesthesia, but she doesn't want 'mommy' all over them. "Someone pass me his chart to see the consent signature," she orders one of the scrub nurses.

Once in front of her she skims through it quickly. Mother, Grey, Lexie,_ check. _Father, N/A, _check. _Patient's name, Sloan, Zachary, _check. _Consent signature, _check._

"Wait, what?" She asks loudly to herself.

"Is everything alright, Dr. Torres?" the scrub nurse holding the chart asks.

Callie nods her head, "_Yeah_… everything's fine." _For now_.

* * *

The procedure goes perfectly fine, and Zack is taken soon to the ICU in the peds wing, since he is not young enough to be taken to the NICU. Lexie can barely see anything due to her inflamed eyes, so she props herself in one of the chairs next to his crib and begins to doze off.

"How are you feeling?"

She opens her eyes and smiles, "It's not me I'm worried about." Lexie tells him

Alex shakes his head, "Lex, its just five in the afternoon and you are pretty much dead. I asked Chief Webber to give you the rest of the day off, I knew that if I asked for the rest of the week you'd probably insert a scalpel into my chest."

She laughs softly knowing she'd probably get really mad at him.

There is a knock on the door, "Hey, I'm sorry, I heard… Actually more like I saw Alex bring him over to Callie. Is he better?"

Lexie begins to nod but she stops, "He is better, but still hasn't woken up," she explains as she passes her hand in between two of the bars on the crib and holds his little foot softly.

He enters and she can see he has a big bag, "When I dislocated my arm– Actually, when Derek dislocated my left shoulder, when we were six his dad gave me a huge stuffed animal. I decided that since there is not really anyone to come give him one, I'd come over and give him one," he tells her giving her the big bag.

Lexie digs into it slowly and she sees a big brown dog, "You didn't have to do anything Dr. Sloan," Lexie says, Alex signals towards the door and walks across to the nurse station in front of the room.

Mark shrugs, "It was a nice thing that the only father-like figure I had did for me... I just wanted to tell you that I don't care what you said, you were slightly drunk yesterday and probably also stressed. You don't have to worry, I'll be here if you need any more help, I know you've got Alex, but still," he tells her as he hears her phone ringing.

"Hello?" She answers.

"_Hey Lexie, are you– I thought your shift was going to be over an hour ago, are you on your way home?_" Susan asks her.

Lexie places her head in her hands and shakes it softly, she begins sobbing, "Zack dislocated his leg," she tells her mom. She had always been taught not to hold back much information when it came to her family so she just said it.

Her mother's gasp is so loud Mark can hear it from where he is standing, "_Is he okay? Do you need me to come over?_"

"No mommy," Lexie says as she breathes deeply, "I'll be–_we'll_ be fine."

"_Ok baby, just call if you need, and I'll call you tomorrow in the morning._"

Lexie nods, "Bye mom, tell dad I love him," she says and then hangs up.

Mark walks a little closer to her, "Do you want to go rest? The nurses will be around." Mark tells her.

Lexie shakes her head, "I'm the only family he has apparently. I can't leave him alone," she says not even looking at him but instead closing her eyes and leaning her head against the cold metal crib, still holding Zack's foot.

Mark nods and makes his way out.

* * *

A few hours later, when he is sure the nurses are all in other rooms and they finished the night round on him; he enters Zack's room. Both Lexie and him are asleep which is even better for Mark. He inches carefully towards Zachary, the side opposite from Lexie and opens the needle he kept in his coat. He knows it won't hurt him since he is medicated so he inserts it in the baby's arm carefully withdrawing the small amount of blood he needed and labeling the tube _Sloan, Zachary. _He puts it in his coat next to the other test tube and walks away making sure no one sees him.

He quickens his pace when he hears Meredith and Cristina around talking about the "Fatherless baby and whore intern", he could seriously go yell at them and tell them that she may not be a whore after all, and the baby may not be fatherless either, but simply walks away to the bottom floor.

Mark opens to door to the blood lab and puts the tubes in the ASAP group and orders a paternity test.

At his hotel room he can't stop thinking about the outcomes, and also about the feeling that he forgot something.

* * *

**A/N: So what did you guys thought Mark was going to do when you heard it was something illegal? When my friend read this and I warned her about it she thought it was something like killing someone or something.**

**Once again, please review! My week needs some brightening up and reviews always help :)**

**P.S. Am I the only one who's like having an absolute obsession with Born To Die by Lana Del Rey?**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I am so embarrassed at this moment because I know it's been I don't know how many weeks since I've updated and it just makes me feel terrible. I want to apologize because I told some of you guys I'd be updating a long time ago and I haven't and there isn't really a concrete excuse for it other than I've been sucking at my time managing skills lately. I'm really sorry about not updating, like I've barely had time to do homework let alone sleep this few weeks.

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Please review!

* * *

**CHAPTER 4**

Lexie wakes up in the morning with a huge grin as she hears her baby crying. She isn't happy he's crying, but she's glad he's awake.

Lowering the rail she cradles him in her arms, and soon the crying ends and laughter erupting from the little guy begins.

"Oh, Dr. Grey, you're awake," notes the nurse, and Lexie nods still looking at her baby boy, "There has been something," she says in a serious voice.

Lexie turns to look at her and panic fills her whole body. _Is he sick? Or did they find something else? _She nods deciding to better take it slowly.

"It was found in your son's chart that last night a paternity test was made without your consent," the nurse says as calmly as she can, knowing that when procedures are done without parents knowing they can pretty much explode.

"WHAT?" She asks placing Zack in the crib and closing it, she walks outside to the nurse station asking for someone to page Dr. Torres.

When the Latina arrives Lexie can't hold it any longer, "Why did someone come in and took a blood sample from my son?" She asks furiously.

Callie's eyes widen, "What?"

Lexie nods, "Someone took a blood sample from Zack to do a paternity test!"

Callie realizes what's going on and asks Lexie to follow her to the blood lab.

When they open the door they are not surprised to find Mark in there sitting with a paper in his hands.

"What are you doing?" Lexie asks with a voice volume she'd never used on anyone before, this makes Callie jump a little and Mark turns around to see her.

He laughs bitterly, "I am making sure that _my _son is all right!" He exclaims.

"Mark," Callie says, "This is illegal. You know that this is unethical _and_ illegal," she says on the calmest voice possible.

"Fine!" He exclaims, "Take me to court, I don't care. I should take _you_ to court for denying me my son."

Lexie begins crying, "I told you! I told you and you didn't believe me!"

"You were drunk!" He throws his hands in the air.

This time she is the one to laugh bitterly, "Oh really? I was _drunk_?" she walks over and tries to grab the results but Mark grabs them first and holds them over his head so she can't grab them.

"How could I possibly know? I thought you were trying to prove me wrong. Plus that night in Boston I was–"

"Drunk," Lexie finishes for him crossing her hands against her chest, "Plus you already proved yourself wrong because you told me you'd try not to take it out on the mother or the child. You said you'd own up to it and that you'd give the child the parent he or she deserves. You are doing none of those things, so I don't really need to prove you wrong, you seem to do it perfectly all by yourself," she walks to the door with tears in her eyes. "Dr. Torres can you make sure that Zack receives no visitors while he is here, I'm just gonna go get my stuff and take him home."

Callie nods and Mark walks towards them.

"You can't deny me my child! I told you I'd take you to court, Lexie. I will if I have to." He tells her quietly but the anger is evident in his voice.

She shrugs and walks away.

Callie makes the chief give both Mark and Lexie the rest of the day off, though she had to explain the situation and she had no idea what she was talking about, so she called Alex to help.

* * *

Lexie goes home, and her mom and dad are right there with her as she cries.

"I'm going to get sued," she tells them as she begins to calm down.

Her mom shakes her head, "I don't know this Dr. Sloan, but I doubt he'd take you to court over this. You haven't even tried to fix it yet, it'd be stupid."

Thatcher stands up and dials some numbers on his phone; neither Lexie nor Susan can really listen due to Lexie cries and hiccups.

"Alex is going to get out as soon as he can and come over," he says sitting back next to them, "I don't know anyone better than him to come cheer you up," he hugs her, "Do you remember when you found out Andrew had cheated on you and only Alex could come help you out?"

Lexie shakes her head, "Are you seriously comparing an ex-boyfriend cheating on me to my son's father telling me that he'll sue me? Because even if Alex could help me out a little, that won't make me win in court. Dr. Sloan can pretty much hire every lawyer in the state, I don't even have enough money to pay for one."

"It's all going to be fine," Susan tells her, "Now go upstairs and sleep some, Zack will need you energized for when he wakes up."

Lexie nods and goes to her room.

* * *

Mark is lying on his bed when hears a knock on the door, he puts on a shirt and goes to open it.

"So I was right?" Derek asks.

Mark nods, "She "tried" to tell me, but it wasn't really _telling_ me the way she said it."

"How did she say it?" Derek asks sitting at the table.

"She asked me how I'd react if I was on the father's position and then she told me," he explains.

Derek gives him a face, "Are you that stupid?" He asks. "She was scared, she wanted to know how you'd react to see if she'd be able to tell you the truth."

"You think she wouldn't have said anything if I told her I'd run away and disappear?" Mark asks Derek.

He shrugs, "I don't know… Maybe, though Lexie doesn't seem like the kind of person who keeps such things to herself for that long."

Mark grabs the chair next to Derek and throws it against the wall making it break to pieces, "I told her I'll take her to court if I need to. She won't even let me see my son!"

"How do you know?" Derek asks him.

"She told Callie not to let anyone enter his room, Lexie made her discharge him earlier than she should've, and Callie made her take the rest of the day off," Mark tells his best friend.

Derek looks at Mark, he has never seen his friend in such a big mess, "Are you going to take her to court?"

"I don't know Derek! I missed the whole pregnancy, and his birth, and everything! He probably thinks of Alex Karev as his father!" Mark tells him trying to hold back the tears, "I passed him my freaking Hyper-mobility. He is injured because of me, Derek. I haven't been in his life and I already hurt him in some way."

Derek knows Mark is feeling guilty and is afraid he'll be a bad father, if Derek had been raised in Mark's position he'd be afraid to be a father too, "Mark you know you are nothing like your parents, you don't have to worry. Plus, the injury? That wasn't your fault, Lexie also has to carry the gene or if not Zack wouldn't have it. That is if Zack really has it, you have to remember he's still pretty young to know for sure."

Mark sits down on the sofa, "I was starting to feel something towards her. I was jealous too, three nights ago when she was dancing with Alex, and I felt like I was going to burn up when she had to sew up my lip," Mark lays down on the sofa, clearly exhausted.

Derek laughs softly.

"What's so funny?" Mark asks.

"You like her. You like the younger Grey." Derek tells him.

Mark sits back up, "Are you saying that I've liked Little Grey before even knowing that we have a child together?"

"Are you saying you like her?" Derek thinks for a second, "Little Grey?"

Mark shrugs, "Yours is Big Grey. I need to know how to differentiate them… And no, I'm not saying that I like her… I just wanted to… fuck her."

"But you just described the 'symptoms' of liking someone or..." Derek tells him.

"Just go Shepherd… If I wanted a shrink I would've called Kathleen," Mark says going back to his bed.

Derek waves goodbye at Mark and leaves the room laughing, _Mark and Little Grey, who would have thought that? _He thinks for a second. _No. Mark could hurt her right now, maybe not voluntarily, but she is fragile at the moment._

* * *

The next morning Mark is paged into Chief Webber's office, he has never been paged there unless it was a very important case, he is hoping for some big procedure that will make his name even more known. He stops in the bridge when he sees Webber hugging Lexie and shaking her head, he waits for her to leave and is thankful she left the other direction.

Knocking softly he enters, "You called chief?"

The chief's smile drops immediately, "Take a sit please."

Mark sits as ordered and places his hands on the desk.

"Dr. Sloan yesterday I was informed about the little incident with Dr. Alexandra–"

"Who?" Mark asks, "I have no idea who Dr. Alexandra is, so I didn't do anyth–"

"Dr. Lexie Grey," Dr. Webber explains, "I was told about what happened by both Dr. Torres and Dr. Karev, so I gave you two the day off so you could cool off, but it didn't work. When I came today to my office I found Dr. Grey outside waiting for me telling me she is quitting the program and wants to find something else," Dr. Webber makes a face, "She's asking if she can change to OB/GYN or dermatology."

"What do I have to do with any of this?" Mark asks.

Richard exhales exasperated; "It means that you better fix whatever it is because Dr. Lexie Grey is the only intern who shows any promise for this year. Losing another resident to another specialty will make this hospital's position lower. We can't have that Dr. Sloan."

"What do you want me to do then?" Mark asks.

"I want you to talk to Dr. Grey and figure what the hell you two are a going to do in order to fix this mess... I need this mess fixed yesterday!" Richard yells pointing towards the door ordering Mark to leave.

* * *

Cristina _hates_ having to interact with interns more than necessary, and this is happening now, "Dr. Grey, the chief wants you in his office STAT," She tells her in a monotone voice.

Lexie catches up with her resident, "Why would he want to talk to me? I just came back from his office."

Cristina turns around and plasters the most fake smile she can, "Dr. Grey do I look like I know what he wants to talk to you?" She asks, and Lexie shakes her head, "Then go!"

Lexie hurries to the office; coming from the same side she had left before of the bridge she can't really see what's going on so she stops by the door, afraid of knocking. Patricia soon tells her to just go in, that he is waiting for her. Of course it's not the "he" she was expecting.

"Excuse me," Lexie says bitterly as she turns around to leave.

"Stop!" He orders her.

She turns back around, "What? What do you need Dr. Sloan?"

"I need you to stay." He tells her.

She shakes her head, "What for? To sue me?"

"I need you to stay because first of all the chief will have my ass if you actually quit because of me and second, I'm not going to sue you… I don't think I will. I just need to know I'll be able to play a role in our son's l–"

"_My _son" Lexie corrects him.

He shakes his head, "_Our_ son, Lexie. He is _our_ son because unless the labs were wrong, I had some doing in the creation of that baby."

"Are you trying to prove some point because anyway I won't stay here so you can have your ass to yourself, if I stay I'm staying because I want to and honestly, the only people who have been welcoming have been Chief Webber, Dr. Bailey, Derek and Alex. Of course I thank Dr. Torres for fixing Zack's leg, but that's it. To the rest of you I'm seen as Meredith's little whore sister," she shakes her head. "I can't stay here."

"Are you seriously not going to let me be in Zack's life, Lexie?" He asks her.

"Do you love him?" She asks.

He looks at her, "What?"

"Do. You. Love. Him?" She asks slower this time.

"I will grow to love him," he says softly getting closer to her.

She shakes her head, "When I found out I was pregnant I was scared out of my mind, because that one-night stand had become something permanent, but I immediately fell in love with that tiny life that was growing inside of me. I can't just wait 'till you love him," she explains.

"Will I be a part of his life, Lexie? Yes or no?" Mark asks, "Because I want to make this right for him, my parents hated me! I can't let any kid of mine go through such a painful thing! Don't you get it? The life I had as a kid determines who I am now, and I don't want that for Zachary," he tells her, "You don't even have to talk to me if it isn't about Zack or medicine, but I just can't do nothing knowing that a part of me is somewhere in the world. You'll never have to talk to me and we can explain to him the situation when he gets older. He deserves a father."

Lexie sits down on the couch and nods. She knows she can't just decide for Zack if he can or can't meet his father. She told him he'd get to meet him, so why is this so complicated?

"Dr. Sloan I–"

"Mark. You get to call me Mark because I think that we are long past the professionalism here," he tells her.

"Dr. Sloan we–"

"Mark," he repeats.

She takes a deep breathe and looks around, "Mark you need to understand that our son is only one month and half old. He can't just jump from house to house, I barely know you at all I can't let our son alone with you. Later when he's old enough or I have enough trust in you he can't just go to a hotel room either."

Mark shrugs, "Ok, so you and I will have dinner together tonight. We will get to meet each other and you can bring Zack over. We can even have dinner early if you prefer and if your schedule allows you. I can also buy a house or an apartment eventually. At what time are you out today?" he asks her.

"Five thirty," she whispers still having second thoughts.

Mark smiles, "Ok perfect, I have to do a rhinoplasty and a z-plasty and I'm done for the day, I'll pick you up around six just give me your address," he tells her.

"What should I wear?" she asks.

He thinks for a minute, "Formal," he tells her before walking away back to work.

"That's it? Where are we going?" She asks. She can see him shaking his finger "no", "Fine!" She yells at him, crossing her arms across her chest, "I'm crazy," she mutters shaking her head and heading back to work.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this, I truly hope to update soon!**

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey Guys! Sorry for the long wait, my schedule was a mess, I had cheer practice everyday because last week we had Nationals (I'm officially a National Champ. for lvl 3 senior large co-ed all star division) I also had my birthday last week (on Turkey day, which is my favorite day of the year and it has nothing to do with my bday)... Anyway, I don't know if my schedule will be better next week cause I've been sick all week long and have a bunch of homework to do :P **  
**Anyhow I apologize for the delay for this chapter and I'm working right now on chapter 17 so as soon as that one is done (It's halfway through) I'll be posting chapter six, I promise!**

**Hope you like this chapter, it's small which is why I'm hurrying with chapter 17 to post next chapter which is twice as long as this one!**

* * *

CHAPTER 5

Lexie hears a knock on the door of her room; quickly she pulls the short sleeves to her dress and opens the door.

"Are you ready?" Susan asked her, "Do you need any help getting ready? Because he is getting out of his car at this moment."

Lexie shakes her head as she grabs the small bag taking an extra diaper and change of clothes for Zack, "No I'm ready, you can go open the door," she tells her.

Susan exits and walks slowly down the stairs after hearing the bell ring once. _At least he's got manners,_ she thinks opening the door, _and good looks too._

"You must be Dr. Sloan," she said and he nods in response, "I'm Susan, Lexie's mom. Please come in, she's finishing up."

Mark nods, "Thanks," he says not knowing what else to say.

Lexie comes down the stairs a few minutes later holding Zack in her arms and the diaper bag. "Hey," she says sheepishly.

He smiles, he's still very mad at the whole situation, but he knows that so is she and that they both need to make an effort at fixing it, "Hey, are you ready to go?" He asks and she nods. Seeing she's got a car seat ready he tells her, "You don't need to take it."

She nods once more before turning around to look at her mom. "Bye mom, tell dad I say bye," she says as she follows Mark to his car.

Mark is already opening the door the back seat, "I thought I'd by a car seat, I don't know what I should do or what I'll need to do, but I hope I can prove to you that I can be in Zack's life."

Lexie nods and moves to place Zack in the seat so Mark can strap him, she stays behind him making sure he does it well. She can't help but notice his body, his strong arms, and even through his navy blue dress shirt she can see a perfectly defined line on his back, her eyes keep moving downward and stop at his ass. _I had sex with __**him**_, she can't help but think.

They drive for about thirty minutes before arriving at the restaurant. The view is amazing and she can notice that there are pretty much no walls whatsoever; it's all in glass. Lexie begins to wonder what on earth possessed him to want to bring a baby into such place. She is thankful though that she decided to wear her short purple dress, it was much more formal than her other dresses and it made her look elegant. She's also glad she decided to dress Zack completely, despite the warmth in the weather. Plus he looks extremely handsome in his black suit.

"We are here," Mark says gesturing for her to get out of the car as he closes the door in the back after getting Zack out.

Lexie comes out closing it softly. Mark, noticing the lights are still on so he turns to her, "Harder," he says.

Lexie smirks, "Isn't that my line?" She asks before opening her door once more and closing it again.

Mark shakes his head smiling; "You do realize there is a baby in my arms that was probably created because of that word, right?"

"Sorry," she says, "I'm just… nervous."

"Don't worry," he says as they enter.

The waiter soon comes to take them to their table right by the window, "I hope it's fine, we had to change your table," the waiter says before excusing himself.

"You asked for a table?" she asks

"I had come here a few times for meetings and thought you'd like it, it's a calm environment with a great view, I asked for the table in the other side that has a great view towards Puget Sound. They told me that they had a reservation and that the computer hadn't registered it correctly," he explains.

"Don't worry," she tells him, "They view is still amazing."

* * *

After Lexie helps Mark feed Zack and they order their plates and begin eating, Mark decides going straight to business mode. That is another thing that he likes about this place, it helps him concentrate.

"I wasn't there for the whole pregnancy, and I wasn't their for his birth, or any event for that matter, and I would love to know as much as possible of each. You owe it to me to tell me," he adds later needing her to tell him. He really feels guilty.

Lexie nods and looks at Zack who is in his carrier on the sit on Lexie's left, "I don't know… I guess the pregnancy went by fine, I found out as soon as I could about the gender, I took my vitamins to make sure everything went as best as it could," she shrugs, "Oh, I did have nausea pretty much through out all of the pregnancy."

"I'm sorry," Mark says.

"Why? I don't regret it at all. I love Zack and I just can't imagine my life without him anymore."

"You said you were with Alex in New York when he was born, how was the birth? Were you all right? Any complications?" He asks wanting to know everything.

"Yeah, we had been shopping most of the day, I bought _industrial_ amounts of baby clothes that day and when we went back to the hotel I began feeling the contractions, Alex took me to Mount Sinai since we weren't that much far away from it. I wasn't in labor for too long, it was probably three hours, and I was able to get the drugs, which I was more than complacent with. He was born on June 14," Lexie tells him.

Mark nods, "That's good that you weren't in much pain," he says. He really doesn't know what to say. "How did you find out you were pregnant?"

"Like I told you… I pretty much freaked out; I was absolutely going crazy. It was two months after that night, and I just thought I'd missed my period due to the stress of all the homework, tests, and my ex-boyfriend was trying to get back with me. After I missed it the second time I knew that it wasn't right and my roommate told me to get a pregnancy test."

Mark nods, trying to wrap his mind around everything she could've gone through. Being in med school was tough, he can't even imagine what she must've felt being pregnant during it.

Zack breaks the silence by starting to cry; luckily it's not that loud to annoy the people around them. Mark smiles inwardly because Zack has that adorable newborn cry that makes most people's heart melt. He quickly looks at him and reaches out for him, leaving Lexie speechless.

"Hey little guy," Mark whispers soothingly with the baby in his arms. "What's wrong?" He looks at Lexie as she moves towards his bag.

"He's probably just tired, or cranky. He is a really good, calm baby, but when he gets tired it's a whole different story," she explains.

Mark looks at her and she is surprised by the look she is receiving. It's not hateful, nor spiteful, it's… Warm.

Zack's cries stop when Mark cradles him closer his chest. "He is amazing," Mark says.

"I wish I had such power over him, when he starts crying like that I can't calm him this fast," she whispers reciprocating the feeling he was emitting.

He looks at her, "I don't know. I guess he likes me."

She nods, "Zack definitely likes you. He doesn't behave this way with almost anyone."

Mark smiles and looks back at his son, "I think I should take you back home now. He's out."

* * *

The drive back home Lexie fills Mark in with all of the details she can, at night she can't stop thinking about him and Zack and their little, broken family.

Mark looks for houses instead.

* * *

**Please review! Reviews make me want to update faster!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hi guys! Twice in a day, that's called feeling guilty for not updating and when I finally do it's a tiny chapter.**  
**I hope you guys enjoy this, I can't promise to update soon, but I do promise to work hard to finish chapter 18 to update... I gotta say that when I finished writing chapter 17 it was much more different from what I had planned but that way chapter 18 will more than likely be a chapter you all guys will truly enjoy!**

* * *

CHAPTER 6

The next week goes by perfectly for both Mark and Lexie, they try to spend as much time together with Zack as possible and Lexie begins feeling more comfortable with Mark and their son.

Every night Mark comes over to Lexie's house to have dinner and he picks her up in the morning. Lexie soon begins to think of him as a good friend… With whom she has a kid with, but that is just a technicality.

During lunch Mark spots Lexie sitting down with Alex, he moves towards them and clears his throat making his appearance known.

"I'll see you later Lex," Alex says before heading to Izzie's table.

Mark takes Alex's seat and begins eating his sandwich, "So I've wanted to show you something that'll hopefully make you feel better about the whole Manwhore-being-the-father-of-your-child thing, but I need you to come with me to see it because it's not in the hospital."

Lexie smirks, "So it's not a vasectomy then?" she asks.

Mark's face goes completely serious, "No, it's not a vasectomy… Eventually if I settle down with someone I'd like to have more kids," he tells her.

Lexie laughs, "Ok then, what is it?"

"You are on my service today, and I casually cleared my schedule to show you this," he tells her standing up, "And we have to go now if I'm going to show it to you today, so go bring Zack and meet me by my car."

When he walks through the cafeteria's door Lexie is dumbfounded, "Okay?"

* * *

Mark, Lexie and Zack arrive at a condominium just twenty minutes away from Lexie's house. She had come around here because she and Alex had some friends that lived there, but she still has no clue what on earth they are doing there.

She sees Mark talking to a lady as she is holding Zack and talking to him animatedly, he signals her to come over to them.

"Lex, this is Mary Joe, she is going to show us what I want you to see," Mark tells her.

They enter the condominium and drive for a little bit before stopping in front of a house. In a sense it's a little like Lexie's house. It's welcoming and homey, but this one is definitely fancier and seems bigger.

"What are you going to show me?" She asks, "Did you buy this house?" She asks.

"Not yet, I want you to see it first and give me a female opinion," he explains.

They enter the house and Mary Joe, or how Lexie named her, "Mary Hoe", shows them the house. It is really spacious, it has three bedrooms, the main room, and an entertainment area in the second floor, and in the first floor it had a living room, kitchen, dinning room, a study and laundry. It also has a basement and an attic.

Once they are done, Mark turns to Lexie, "What do you think about it? Is it good enough for our son to spend time with me? Is it family-friendly?"

"Why do you want it family friendly? You just need space for Zack and you." she asks him.

He shrugs, "I was just thinking about the future, I wouldn't like having to move again, not soon anyway, but I don't know. Do you think a family could be raised here?" he asks. "I would like to eventually get married and have a family, and of course I already have Zack."

Lexie feels a little sad about it, and she doesn't even know why, is it because she felt like Mark is going to move on and have a family with her son included and she will stay stuck? Is she jealous of Mark's thoughts of marrying someone eventually? Her answer comes a little snappier than she hoped for, "I don't know, why don't you ask Mary Hoe over there what she thinks. It looks like she could perfectly end up marrying you by the way you've two have been flirting with each other."

Mark furrows his brows, "Is there something wrong?" he asks her.

She composes herself, "I like it. It's nice for a family, and it's in a safe neighborhood. I would be fine with Zack coming here," she says before walking away to the car.

Mark calls Mary and arranges a meeting so he can buy the house and then drives Lexie back to the hospital. Things are a little tense between them in the car ride there and then again during dinner that night.

* * *

Lexie wakes up the next morning to her phone vibrating under her pillow. She pulls it out and opens it groaning. It was her very first free day in her first two weeks, and even if it was ten in the morning, she had been blessed by Zack deciding to sleep much better for the past week and by Susan, who was most likely feeding him at the moment.

_Mark: I'm downstairs, come open up_

She groans once more and pulls up some sweats and heads down to the front door. When she opens it Mark enters and heads to the kitchen, she follows him.

"So I met with Mary Joe today and I signed the documents," he tells her, "I bought the house and I am using today to buy some stuff to make it more homey. Derek is going to help with the moving and I need you help with the buying of furniture since I'm sure I don't have any sense of that redecoration sense most girls have and by the looks of it, you seem to be organized and have a good sense of style."

She smiles at the compliment; quickly forgetting she is still mad at him. Coming to think of it, she wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life with Mark Sloan being a big part of it. Realizing she needs to answer she looks at him and nods, "Yeah, sure. At what time were you planning on going? Or do I have to go alone?" she asks.

"I thought I'd go with you, I mean, I'm paying for it and I still have a saying on what I want," he tells her, "If you want I can wait for you to get ready and have breakfast and we can go from there."

Susan looks at him from where she is sitting with Zack, "Have you had any breakfast Dr. Sloan?" she asks him, "I'm used to having so many people over for breakfast that I always prepare so much, you could have breakfast while you wait for her," she says. "I mean, Alex lives with Meredith, but still he almost always has breakfast here and even dinner… Even when Lexie was off to college."

Mark smiles at her, "Thank you so much Mrs. Grey, but I think I'll wait for Lexie."

Lexie walks to the door as she exits, "Okay, I'll hurry."

"Don't worry, you can take your time, I'm not that hungry," he tells her.

Lexie exits the kitchen after giving Zack a kiss on his forehead, "Yeah, but I am so I will hurry," she says

When she exits Mark turns to Susan, "Do you need any help?"

Susan smiles at him, "You can take Zack upstairs to change him, his clothes are temporarily in Lexie's room since he is still sleeping there," she informs him.

"Are you sure? I mean Lexie will get out of the bathroom and need to change later," he tells her, "I don't think she'd like to see me in her room."

"Honestly, and with all due respect, I don't worry because I'm sure there isn't much you haven't seen of my daughter. If she enters her room you can just take him to the nursery across the hall from her."

Mark nods a little embarrassed and grabs Zack in his hands and takes him upstairs, "Hey Zack," he whispers as he enters Lexie's room and carefully places him on Lexie's bed to change him, "What should I dress you in today?" He asks to himself as he opens one of the drawers where he had seen Lexie grab some of his clothes from once.

He grabs a diaper and what he needs to clean him up and once he is done he grabs a onesie and changes him, then he grabs some pants and puts on his socks. Mark stares at his son for a moment, taking in all of him. He smiles when he notices that he definitely has the Sloan nose, then his ears are just like his and changing his diaper he is been happy to know he is definitely a Sloan.

He sits on the bed staring at his son for five minutes before Lexie enters the room with a very short towel that she is fixing right by her breasts.

When she sees him she clutches the towel to her chest covering it and jumps slightly, "Oh, sorry, I–"

"Don't worry, like your mom said, there isn't much I haven't seen," he says standing up.

She blushes and shakes her head, "Yeah, but you haven't seen the extra fat and… stuff in all of the worst places. Plus you don't remember what you've seen."

He smiles shaking his head, "Oh please, you have no extra fat or stuff. I just saw you and I don't _quite_ remember your whole body, but I'm sure your boobs are the only thing that _might_ not the same size they normally are at the moment but you are _lactating_," he reminds her.

He sees her cheeks go from white to a soft pink and laughs inwardly; she opens her dresser and takes out a pair of blue, lace panties and a matching bra. "Are you sure? I could change in my closet," she tells him.

He shrugs, "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Fine," she says dropping her towel and changing right there, "And by the way, my boobs aren't much different than before, they are still small in size compared to other women's," she says blushing as she puts on her panties and her bra. Mark stares at her the whole time and Lexie looks back at him noticing it, "Ok no more peep show for you, you had enough already," she says laughing as she goes inside her closet.

"Sorry," Mark mumbles sheepishly, and he looks back at his son realizing he is holding his body with his arms. "Did you know Zack could hold himself up with his arms?" He asks her.

Lexie comes back in fully dressed and smiles at her son, "Hello there little Zack," she coos. "Are you showing daddy what you can do?" She asks him smiling.

He coos back at her and begins giggling falling back on his tummy.

"He can't hold himself for much yet, but he seems to be very advanced physically," Lexie tells him grabbing him and grabbing Mark's hand so he can tickle Zack on his leg, "He laughs so hard when you do that," Lexie tells him.

Mark smiles as he hears his son bursting into laughter. He had never really heard this much. He looks back at Lexie, "Weren't you hungry? Let's go downstairs so we can head out early."

Lexie nods and follows him back downstairs.

"You're finally ready," Susan said smiling, "I could hear his laughter all the way over here," she tells them laughing and coming close to him and asking, "Mommy and daddy were making you laugh? Those horrible people!"

Lexie takes a sit and places Zack in his carrier, "Serve yourself," she tells Mark, "It's not like it's your first time here."

Mark nods placing some pancakes on his plate and pouring some syrup on them, "What else does he do? When did he laugh for the first time?" He asks.

Lexie rolls her eyes and Susan laughs, "Alex was the first one to make him laugh," Susan tells him. "Lexie's still resenting him for that."

"Well yeah!" She says a little frustrated, "I should've been the first one to make him laugh, or even Mark!"

Mark smirks, "Thanks huh?"

"You know what I mean," she tells him.

He shrugs, "I do, just wanted to see your reaction. You know, you are lucky I'm a very patient man," he tells her with a stoic face.

"Ha! _Patient_, you keep telling that to yourself but the interns wouldn't agree much," Lexie tells him.

Susan simply smiles at them. She thinks that maybe Mark is what Lexie needs to be able to feel more secure about herself. He is definitely much more confident and Lexie doesn't seem to fear being confident around him either.

* * *

An hour later Mark and Lexie are at the furniture store. They had decided to let Zack stay at home since they didn't know how long it'd take them shopping furniture.

"What about this one?" Lexie asks pointing at a big wooden bed.

Mark looks at it, "It's definitely better," he says making Lexie roll her eyes.

"What do you want then?" She asks him exasperated at his indecisiveness.

He shrugs, "Fine, the mattress is smart so I can fix it however I want to," he says trying to help out, "I do like it, I just don't know yet," he says.

"What don't you know?" She asks him.

"I don't know," he admits, "I guess I feel like everything is changing so quickly, I mean I found out two weeks ago that I'm a father and now I'm buying a bed and a crib for my new house. I haven't even slept with anyone in almost one month."

She rolls her eyes again, "Ok, well I haven't slept with anyone in over seven months," she tells him to make him see that she had it worst.

Mark furrows his brows, "Whom were you sleeping with?"

She mimics him and places her hand on her hip, "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know," he shrugs, trying to see what to say, "You were pregnant with my child at the moment."

"Is that it?" she asks him, "And I was sleeping with a guy from Harvard, not that you should really care," she shrugs.

"Well I consider us as friends. Friends have each other's back," he says trying to change topics. "We have a son together. Don't you consider us friends?"

"I guess I do," she says. She isn't really sure if she considers him a friend. _Aren't we long past the friendship stage? But what else could we be? We aren't friends with benefits cause we've only slept together once._ She shakes her head, _ok probably more than once knowing myself and look at him… He is– __**looks **__like a sex god._

"Lexie?" Mark calls her once again; he has been calling her for the past minute.

She snaps back, "Huh?"

"I was telling you that I'll take the last one you suggested," he tells her.

She nods, "Ok, we have chosen a bed and a sofa, we are still missing kitchen utensils, you had said you wanted to have fifteen of each, you need pots, and pans, and plates, bed sheets at least three different sets, duvets, comforters, a dresser, hangers, towels, TVs, and living room, dinning room and kitchen stuff."

"That's it?" he asks scoffing.

She shrugs, "You need to have your house ready. We could also buy a crib for Zack and the other nursery stuff after this."

"How can you even remember all of this?" He asks her.

"I have a photographic memory," she murmurs.

He raises he brows, "You do? How does it work?"

"I don't know," she admits, "I guess I just have a really good memory. I'm able to recall pictures and images better, like taking a picture of it, but not exactly, like with your shopping list."

"Sounds fun," he tells her, "It must be easy for studying."

She nods, "It's definitely a significant advantage."

* * *

After buying everything they head to Lexie's house to pick Zack up and then go to Mark's new house where Derek and many trucks were already waiting.

"What took you so long?" Derek asks them.

"I wanted to go pick up Zack," Lexie explains, "I barely get to spend time with him and Mark only sees him three times a day so I though I would bring him to spend some time together."

Derek takes Zack from Mark's arms, "You know, Meredith is still shocked about this whole thing."

Lexie nods, "Figures," she murmurs. "I am going to go order something to eat. Anyone up for pizza?"

They both nod and watch Lexie go inside the house.

"How are you guys getting along?" Derek asks.

"I don't know, she has been awkward lately, like she's uncomfortable around me," Mark tells him, omitting completely that earlier she hadn't felt that uncomfortable and dressed in front of him.

"Do you know why?"

Mark shakes his head, "I'm oblivious to what I did to make her feel like that. Yesterday when we came to see the house she was a kind of mad. I was asking her what she thought about the house for a family and she got mad."

"Do you think she thinks you are making her be a part of your family? Or maybe she is afraid you are going to take her son away from her," Derek suggests.

"I don't think so, I was telling her that I wanted to find someone eventually so I think that makes it clear that in no way I am making her be my wife or partner or whatever, and I would never take Zack away from her. I may have threatened by suing her, but I would never separate her from her own son," he says looking at his son who is cooing in Derek's arms.

"Maybe she is jealous," Derek points out.

Mark scoffs, "Why would she be jealous?"

"That you are moving on, because it's easier for a man with a baby to find a partner than it is for a woman with a baby."

Mark shrugs in response, "I don't know, she is a wonderful person, she is caring, loving, and selfless… And that's just what I've seen. Plus she is very smart," Mark says, "Did you know she has a photographic memory? On the way over I made her recite the periodic table."

Derek smirks at his best friend, "Don't you dare sleep with her again, you already proved to be quite fertile together," Derek's expression goes serious, "I'm serious Mark, keep Little Sloan out of Little Grey," he orders him walking inside the house.

"You don't need to warn me off of her! Plus there is no little anything about a Sloan!" He yells at Derek's retreating back as he turns around to look at the men who had been bringing the furniture into the house, "What are you looking at? Is everything already in there?" He asks them.

"Yes Dr. Sloan, we already took everything in there, your wife told us where to put them," they say as more than ten men get into the trucks.

Mark opens his mouth to correct the man, but something stops him… _Do I feel something for Lexie like Derek said?_ He walks to the house where he sees Lexie walking outside talking to Zack. He feels his heart beat a little faster, like it's fluttering. _She is wonderful indeed, but she doesn't like me, and I don't even know if I like her. It could always be just the hunger and tiredness._

"Do you want to go play inside? You wanna go show daddy and Derek how you do mini-push ups?" Lexie asks as she heads towards the pizza guy, she smiles at him as he hands her the pizzas and she hands him the money, "Thank you."

The guy nods and keeps looking at her, making Mark feel a little… _Is it anger? Am I jealous? Maybe again I'm just hungry and this guy staring at Lexie is making me waist the time I could spend eating._

"You are really pretty," he hears the pizza guy say to Lexie.

Mark stalks towards them, "Ok Zack, let's allow mommy to bring the pizzas inside and you can show daddy and Derek how you do your mini-push ups," he says grabbing the baby from Lexie's arms as she just looks at the pizza guy a little embarrassed.

"Thank you," Lexie says politely as she follows Mark into the house.

"Here's the pizza," Lexie says placing the boxes on the table, "I ordered a supreme one and another one that's half anchovies half pepperoni."

Mark and Derek immediately open it and start eating.

"Go ahead," Lexie mutters sitting in front of them as she watches Zack playing on the floor showing the grown-ups his mini-push ups.

Derek chuckles when Zack begins cooing and falls down, "He is so advanced for his age."

Mark smirks, "Of course he is. He is a Sloan, what else were you expecting."

Derek shakes his head tauntingly, "Nah, I think he got that from Lexie."

Lexie smirks at Mark and grabs a slice of the anchovies pizza, "I agree."

"Of course you do," Mark scoffs.

Lexie shrugs innocently, "From whom else would he get his mental and physical abilities?"

"Oh well, I am sure that his dad has great prowess at some stuff, like mentally and some would say even physically," Mark says following through with the playful banter.

Lexie raises her brows, "Really? I cannot remember any of that."

Mark leans against the chair taking a bite off his pizza, "Well you must've been pretty out of it, because I'm sure it was one hell of a performance."

They have completely forgotten the world around them and are completely oblivious at Derek's stares and smirks.

Lexie shakes her head, "Well I have a photographic memory and I can't remember whatsoever."

Mark laughs and so does she, they keep eating their pizza, but never taking their eyes off of each other.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Once again I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time, since this Friday I am officially off from school and then this week is my last one before I'm off from cheerleading for a couple of weeks so I'll try to work as much as I can on this!**

**Also, I have noticed that I'm receiving less reviews and I'm not sure if I have lost readers or what?**

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter... I'm sure you guys will, but this will only feed the beast.**

**Please review!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 7**

One week later Mark is all settled in his house, Lexie and him have been spending more time together in the hospital and outside the hospital, always using the excuse of them hanging out as "friends".

Lexie finally has gotten comfortable with Mark being with their son, but she is freaking out since Mark is coming over for Zack's first sleepover at his new house.

She had been the one to suggest it, but now she seriously doubts it. The doorbell rings and she sighs deeply, "Ok baby boy, your dad's here for you," she says choking back the tears and grabbing his bag and then him before heading downstairs.

She opens the door and tries to smile. "Hey," she says as they kiss each other on the cheek. "He is all ready, he had his dinner already and there are more than enough bottles and formula in his bag. I also put in diapers and his onesie because he really gets hot during the night," she looks up at Mark who is already holding the baby and his bag and she can now feel the tears burning her eyes. "If you need anything just give me a call, no matter at what time," she says looking at her son who was cooing and reaching out with his little chubby arms.

Mark gives her a sad smile looking at her eyes tearing up, "He will be fine," he tells her reaching out to wipe off a tear that fell from her eye.

She nods, "You should get going."

"We'll see you tomorrow in the morning," he reminds her, "We will have breakfast together at the hospital before your shift. Think about this as a night shift, you've had some of those haven't you?" She nods. "Ok, it's pretty much the same thing, you'll see him tomorrow," he whispers before kissing her cheek and going back to the car. After he's strapped Zack into his seat and he gets into the drivers seat he looks at Lexie.

She is holding against the door as if holding onto dear life, pretty much crying her eyes out. He sighs looking at Zack from the rearview mirror and getting out of the car.

He walks up to her and just stares at her for a while, "Go get your stuff," he orders softly.

Lexie looks up at him, "What?" she croaks.

"Get your stuff," he repeats softly once more.

She shakes her head, "No, go. It's your first day having Zack over at your house, I'll be fine I just need t–"

"God damn it, Lex! Stop being so stubborn and get your stuff or I will do it for you and carry you into the car, and I'm sure I won't pack the stuff you want," he says, his voice doesn't sound mad, but he is definitely stressed by her stubbornness.

She shakes her head once more and he sighs as he climbs up the stairs two at a time, less than two minutes later he is downstairs with a bag and her purse.

"I left a note to your parents saying that you are staying over at my house tonight," he says as he kneels down and raises her in his arms. He walks to the car carrying her bridal style and placing her on the passenger seat.

He then gets on his own seat and drives off.

* * *

Once they get there Lexie gets out of the car slowly. Not sure of what to say she opens the trunk to get Zack's bag and her own. She watches Mark get the car seat out and head to the door opening it with one hand, she follows him walking slowly and clears her throat softly, "You didn't have to do this," she whispers. "I just needed some time and I would get better. I'm just…" she shakes her head and laughs softly. "I'm not used to having him away from me like that."

Mark places his hand behind her back, "Don't worry," he tells her as they walk upstairs.

Lexie's eyes widen in realization, "Mark, you don't have an extra bed! We haven't finished the guest room, we haven't–"

"Can you stop worrying so much?" He asks her. "You are going to sleep in my bed and I'll sleep on the couch."

"I can't make you do that Mark," she says as they enter the nursery and turn on the lights. "It's your bed and– Is it me or this room is different from how I left it?" she asks taking in all the toys and furniture that hadn't been there the last time she had been there.

Mark smiles and nods and places Zack inside his crib, "I decided that I'd buy some toys for him, I know he is still too young for most of them, but I was near the store and I thought I'd just buy them," he says shrugging. "I also bought him a Yankees' onesie," he tells her as she puts Zack's bag on the diaper changing station.

Lexie shakes her head and hugs him softly, "Mark, it means so much to me and I'm sure it means _so much _to our son."

Mark smiles and looks down at her, he can smell her shampoo. _Vanilla_, he thinks.

She separates from him but drops her smile, "But Mark, I'm serious. I'm not going to make you sleep on your couch while I'm sleeping on your bed. I'll take the couch,"

"No," Mark tells her almost immediately, "I swear Lexie– You sleep in the bed, I'll take the couch, because unless you want to share I'm sleeping on the couch. I made that decision the second I told you to get in the car."

She ponders it for a second, _what could be the worst thing that could happen? We have already slept together, sharing a bed is no big deal compared to that, _"Fine," she says.

"You're sleeping in my bed?" He asks her.

She shakes her head, "We are sleeping in your bed."

Mark laughs shaking his head, "You know you are the craziest and most amazing woman I know," he tells her entering the kitchen.

Lexie tries to stop the smile that's forming on her lips, "I know," she says following him.

He smiles at her, "What do you want to have for dinner?" He asks her placing the baby monitor he had been carrying on the counter.

"I don't know, but I'll prepare it," she tells him, "Zack is still awake so you can play with him, and you can go bring a few of his toys and floor mat over here and just spend time with him. Remember this is your night with him," she tells him. "Think of me as a maid."

He shakes his head wanting to tell her he could never think of her as a maid, "I'll go bring him over."

When he comes back with Zack and some baby stuff he lays him on the floor mat in the spacious kitchen and sits on the ground, "So what are you going to cook?" He asks her.

"I was checking the pantry and I found a mac n' cheese box so I guess you like it and I started liking it during the pregnancy and it hasn't stopped, so that's what we are going to eat."

He smiles, "You didn't like it before the pregnancy?" He asks her.

She bends over to grab a pot and he looks at her, smiling and shaking his head as he sees her, she looks back at him, "I did like it before, but I had the worst cravings ever for this and I just guess I got used to it," she says ignoring the fact that she had, in fact, seen him staring at her ass.

"Do you want a glass of wine with the mac n' cheese?" He asks her.

"I think that I should feed Zack first," she says bending down once more but this time, knowing he is staring again, and teasing him by swaying softly.

"Are you going to breastfeed him? I thought you had the formula," he asks.

She goes to sit next to Mark, "Yeah, but that was because he was staying with you. I rather just breastfeed him as much as possible because it's much better for him… And it's a great way to reduce my weight fast," she explains.

He nods slowly, "Ok, I guess I'll go over there and stir while you two do your thing," he says. Lexie laughs and he can immediately feel his heart fluttering again, _damn hunger_, he curses.

"You know, I don't mind, I mean just last week I was putting my underwear in front of you," she says as she places Zack against her now naked breast.

Still not turning around Mark asks, "So you want me to watch?"

"What I'm saying is I wouldn't care, not that you are being forced into watching," she says once again laughing. A few silent minutes go by before she breaks the silence "Ow!" she mutters,

Mark turns around, "Are you alright?" he asks her.

"Yeah, Zack is beginning to learn how to bite, and it's just his gums," she tells him as he looks at her, "So you_ did_ want to watch, huh? Because I'm sure I know people with more will power to not turn around at something like an 'ow!'", she notes smirking.

He leans against the counter still staring at her, "Well in this case, you are holding my son, so I gotta say that I will turn around even if you say 'wow', so you can't fault me for that," he says.

Lexie looks at him, "Alright, so you know all this stuff about me and me during the pregnancy, and you know about my family, but I don't know much of _your_ family," she says.

He shrugs, "We can talk about that some other day, right now it's all about us and our son spending some quality time together," he tells her as he pours the water of the pot into the sink and adding the cheese mix into it.

"That bad?" she asks.

"Worse," he tells her casually.

She nods and changes topics, "What where you doing at the conference? Derek mentioned you were one of the speakers."

"I was talking about a patient, Donna Gibson formerly Daniel Gibson, whom I had been doing some procedures here and there for a change of gender. Before her last surgery I found out that the pills she had been taking to become more feminine were giving her breast cancer, but even against many professional opinions she went through with the surgery," he explains.

"Wow," Lexie says amazed, "Is she okay?"

Mark nods, "She is going through chemo and radiation as a women, and her wife is always right there by her side. Those kind of couples really get me to think you know?" he says nonchalantly.

Lexie nods, she is definitely asking him later about that, "Ok I think Zack's out, so if you want you can go lay him down and I'll serve the dinner and then take his stuff upstairs," she tells him.

Mark kneels down with Zack asleep in his arms and grabs his toys, "You worry about what kind of wine you want," he says as he leaves the kitchen.

When he comes back down the plates are set at the table with two glasses of red wine, "Are you trying to be romantic with the red wine thing?"

She rolls her eyes, "Cause that's what I was trying to do," she says sarcastically as she sits down and begins eating.

"Hey, you never know," he says sitting down next to her and taking a sip of his wine and then taking a bite of his mac n' cheese, "I didn't do a bad job," he comments.

"No, it's not bad," she says as she's almost done with hers.

He looks at her, "You could give me more credit," he tells her, "You were pretty much violating me with your nakedness. Some guys would find it hard to concentrate," he tells her.

"Yeah," she agrees with him, "Not saying that it's all you do, but you pretty much fix boobs for a living."

"True, but still, this is a different situation."

"How so?"

He shrugs, "I don't know," he can hear his mind yelling at him, _Liar! _

"Okay…" she says getting up from her seat to place her empty bowl on the sink.

"Someone was hungry," Mark notes.

She sits back on the stool, "Someone was breastfeeding, and that same someone has had a very tiring day as well," she mutters stretching her arms on the table and resting her head on top of them.

Mark stands up from his stool and takes his bowl and both their glasses to the sink, "Let's go upstairs," he tells her.

She nods and walks next to him upstairs to his room, "I'm gonna go put on my pajamas," she tells him grabbing her bag and heading towards the bathroom as she opens it, "Did you pack any pajamas?" she asks him as she looks for them.

"I knew I was missing something," he mutters as he heads to his closet and grabs a t-shirt and a pair of boxers and sweats, "Ok, this is for you," he says handing her his old Columbia t-shirt and the boxers, and then closes the door to the bathroom. He changes to his sweats and walks to the left side where Lexie had left her stuff and places the baby monitor there.

He hears the door of the bathroom open and he looks at her.

Lexie has her hand on her hips, "Seriously?" she asks lifting her hands letting the boxers slip down her legs. Mark begins laughing, "This is not funny."

"I disagree," he says still laughing.

Lexie shakes her head and walks to his bed thrusting his boxers into his chest, feeling his rock hard abs against her fist. _Damn! _She thinks rolling her eyes and biting her lip, _how will I be able to sleep tonight?_

Mark moves the covers so they can both lay down. When she lays down and stares at him Mark sees her hair move to her forehead. He reaches out slowly to move it away from her face and she has to bite on her inside cheeks to avoid from giggling like an idiot.

"Thanks," she whispers as Mark turns off the lights, leaving them in complete darkness except from the light glow of the moon.

He smiles at her, "Your face is too nice to have it covered with hair," he whispers back.

This time she can't help but giggling softly.

_Maybe it wasn't the hunger after all, _Mark thinks, _but then what is it?_

Lexie looks straight into his eyes, "You can tell me if I'm stepping over… but would you tell me about your parents?" she asks softly.

Mark sighs softly, "My parents weren't interested in having kids, so I was always left alone at home. That was until I met the Shepherds though," he tells her.

"Derek's family?" she asks him

He nods, "They would make Derek take me home with them because I didn't like sleeping alone in my house. My dad was the kind of father who really didn't care about anything I ever did, my mom only cared about my grades."

"Do they live in New York?" she asks.

"They do, well I'm not sure if they are still alive" he shrugs. "Who knows, all I really know is that I don't miss them and don't want to see them."

"So you don't have a great relationship with them then."

He laughs softly, "You could says so, yeah."

"What about your friends?" She asks him.

She can see him relax a little, "I have some friends over at New York, who used to be co-workers, but my real best friend is Derek. He is the only friend I have here, but he was always there for me and I know that he always will."

Lexie nods comprehending, "So Derek is what made you come over here? Is he all you have in Seattle?" she asks him.

"I did come because of him, but now I have a son here, and then there's Callie who has become a great friend of mine. I also think that _we_ could be good friends. You know I was actually thinking of going back to New York in December, just because I know that my specialty is much more "needed" over there, but now I wouldn't think about it," he tells her.

She smiles at him, "May I ask one last thing?" she asks him.

"Go ahead," he says.

"You had said that couples like Donna and her wife get you to think. What do they get you to think about?" she asks.

"I guess that they make me think that true love does exist, you know," he whispers, "I had never been shown of much of it around my house and then as I grew up I guess I never fell in love," he explains. "I've never been in an actual relationship, so couples like them make me think that true love does exist, and no matter what my past, present, or future is, that someone will be there to love me unconditionally."

Lexie can feel her heart grow at least twice as big, "I'm sure there is someone else for you, Mark. You are an intelligent, funny, and caring man… Not to mention insanely hot. There is probably a line of women waiting to be with you, you just have to be patient."

He smirks, "So you think I'm insanely hot?"

She rolls her eyes and smacks his chest playfully, "Don't let it get to your head," she tells him she shivers slightly, "Are you cold? Cause I'm freezing?"

"Honestly, and even though I am _insanely hot_, I am freezing," he tells her, "I'll go get another cover."

He gets out of bed and goes to his closet, Lexie turns around to see the monitor and soon after, Zack begins crying.

"I'll go see what he needs," she tells him grabbing an extra pajama onesie just in case.

As she enters the baby smell is intoxicating. She raises him from the crib and sniffs the top of his head, "Are you cold Zack?" she asks him immediately feeling his cold feet against her naked thigh, "I'll take that as a yes," she says laying him on the diaper station to change him. "Do you like it here with daddy?" She asks him in a soothing voice trying to calm him down. "I hope you do because your daddy loves having you here, but you better learn to behave because mommy won't be here with you the next time. This was only once because I love you too much and daddy allowed me to come with you two," she says taking him to his crib and just watching him, as his cries get softer. "You know, your daddy is a great man, he is being a very respectful man with me, which I really appreciate. But I'll let you in on a little secret," she says lowering her voice completely. "Mommy may have a little crush on your daddy," she tells him, her eyes beginning to burn a little with unshed tears as she kisses his little head and walks towards the door. "Good night baby boy."

* * *

**Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I also hope to receive many reviews!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So I was able to update a little sooner this time! I absolutely loved your reviews you guys, they were amazing and I laughed so much because... well you are going out find out this chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Also happy holidays! I hope you have a great Christmas Eve and Christmas and then New Years Eve and New Years!**

**Please update!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 8**

Lexie comes back into the room and sees Mark lying in the bed; she crawls under the covers next to him. She closes her eyes concentrating on Mark's deep, but soft and soothing breathing.

"What are you confiding in on our son?" Mark asks her softly.

Lexie's eyes shoot right open, "What?"

"What were you telling our son?" He asks her, "I heard all the amazing things you had to say about me before the "little secret"," he says cockily, "but don't tell me you told our son about me being insanely hot," he says half teasing half intrigued.

Lexie laughs nervously, "No, I didn't say that to him."

"As long as you are not putting those kind of ideas inside his head then it's fine by me," he tells her.

_No it's not, _she thinks, _God, Lexie, stop thinking about him. He doesn't want you that way and you are obviously just attracted to him because he is your son's father._

"Can you stop thinking so loud?" Mark asks her.

"Sorry," she whispers sheepishly, "I can't seem to turn my mind off."

"Are you still cold?" he asks her.

She nods, "Yeah a little, which is weird because I don't really wear pajamas," she shakes her head. "Ok that was way too much information."

He chuckles, "You have to relax," he tells her looking into her eyes. "Turn around," he orders.

"What? No, you turn around," she responds.

"No, really turn around," he tells her.

Lexie gives him a look, worrying about what he is going to do, "Why do you want me to turn?" she asks.

He gets closer to her and reaches out for her arm and begins rubbing it, "Fine, don't turn around," he whispers as their chests get close together, "Better?" he asks as he moves his hand to her back and begins rubbing circles on it.

She nods, as she feels her eyelids getting heavy, "Yeah."

"Go to sleep, we have an early appointment tomorrow," he tells her feeling himself feeling sleepy as she places her head on his chest. _Does she not feel how my heart is beating against my chest? _He asks to himself, _am I having a heart attack? Cause it surely feels like it._

"Now you are the one that needs to stop thinking so loud," she mumbles into his bare chest, he can feel her warm breath and he gets goose bumps everywhere.

"Sorry," he says beginning to thread his fingers into her hair.

She nods, "That feels so good," she says.

"Go to sleep," he whispers into her ear, this time sending a chill down her spine, she tries her hardest not to shiver but fails. "Are you still cold?"

She shakes her head, "I'm fine," she yawns.

He nods closing his eyes and following her into one of the best slumbers they've ever had.

* * *

Lexie wakes up first the next morning to the coos coming from the monitor. When she turns around Mark tightens his arms around her waist and she feels like crying. She wants to yell at him to let her go and to stop being so charming. Instead, she gets out of his grip slowly trying not to wake him up.

When she enters Zack's nursery she smiles at her little boy who is trying to lift his head with his arms and is smiling at her.

"Good morning, Zack," she smiles as she takes him out of the crib and sits on the rocking chair to feed him. She takes off Mark's shirt and smells it before placing Zack against her chest. "You know that I told you yesterday that I may like your daddy?" Lexie asks the little boy, he looks up at her in response, and "Well I think I really do. It's not a _might_ any longer. I have a crush on your daddy," she says kissing his head as he makes the cutest sucking sounds she's ever heard. "Remember you can't tell anyone though, it's our own little secret,"

She keeps on talking to him about anything and everything, "You know Aunt Molly wants to come over soon, but Laura is just a baby as well, though she is a little older than you, but she is going to try to come over. I have met Laura once, but that was over Skype," Lexie mentions, "Maybe she'll be able to come over for your grandpa's birthday party," Lexie says smiling, "She is my only real sister and she is eager to meet you," she sighs. "Then there's Meredith… I know she doesn't like me at all so I doubt she'll want to _meet _meet you. She doesn't even really want to meet me. Derek's another story though, he is wonderful and he really likes you and me so I appreciate that," she looks at Zack who has detached himself from her. "Do you think your daddy's friends like you? Callie doesn't seem like a bad person, and she helped you so much with your leg."

Mark enters the room yawning, "How are you?" he muffles through the yawn.

"We are good," Lexie says smiling and blushing a bit when she sees him shirtless and realizes that she is shirtless too. She hands Zack over to Mark and she quickly puts on his shirt, "Sorry about that," she says sheepishly.

He smiles, "Don't worry," he gestures at his own bare chest, "You are not the only one."

"Though it's more common to see a guys bare chest than a woman's naked breasts," she points out.

"True," he says as the three of them go downstairs to have some breakfast. He puts many boxes of cereal on the kitchen island and then the bowls, milk, and spoons. "Serve yourself," he says as he sits next to her and begins playing with Zack's hands.

Lexie smiles at their small interaction, _why can't he like me back?_ She asks to herself, _I should just try dating someone… Pierce was interested in asking me out, and so was George. _She shakes her head inwardly, "I'm not really that hungry," she says handing Zack over to Mark. "I'll go take a shower," she mumbles as she heads upstairs.

Mark looks at little Zack in his arms, "You know, your mom let you in on a little secret and I think I might as well do it too," he tells him. As soon as he hears the door to his room close he brings Zack closer to his face, "I've been having this feelings, like some things your mommy does or say, make me feel like my heart is… Fluttering," Mark tells him, "I don't know what it really is, I mean your mom is amazing. Probably more than amazing and I don't know why I can't seem to consider her as a friend like I do with Callie or Derek. It feels wrong when I try to."

Zack smiles at him and stretches his arms reaching out for his lips, once he feels Mark's lips he squeals with joy.

"I don't know what your mommy's secret is about, but I had a dream about it, you know?" he tells Zack, "I'm going to talk to Derek about it later because I need actual feedback from it."

Mark goes upstairs to get Zack ready and then get showered, "Let's see what mommy packed for you," he says going through his bag to find his clothes. He takes out a soft, blue colored onesie, "Your mommy has a thing for blue doesn't she?" he asks going through his bag but giving up and just dumping everything on his bed. "Okay… You have everything here, but we have to give you a bath first so you can be ready for your doctors appointment."

He walks over to the bathroom and he opens the door enough for him to be able to talk to her, "Everything's ready for Zack's bath," he tells her.

Lexie turns of the water and walks over to him with a towel draped around her body, "Perfect," she smiles as she looks over to Zack who is moving his hands and feet on the bed. "Let me just put some clothes on and you can just bring over his tub meanwhile," she says as she goes to her bag and begins changing right there in front of him.

Mark nods as he goes to Zack's nursery quickly to get the tub and bring it over to his bathroom, "Ok I'll set up the water while you finish up there," he tells her entering the bathroom and letting the water run until it gets a little warm.

"Ready?" Lexie asks him as she enters the bathroom with Zack in her arms. "You shouldn't have to worry, he is very easygoing while taking baths." Mark smiles at his son as he grabs him and carefully places him on the tub, holding him with one hand every moment, "I have realized that you really have a thing for blue don't you?" he asks her.

Lexie laughs.

_Damn, _he thinks.

"I had told my parents that I didn't want to go with blue because it's the stereotypical color for a baby boy, but when he was born and they wrapped him in that light blue receiving blanket I though 'Oh well, he does look _so_ _cute_ in blue'", she tells him, still laughing.

"Have you ever dressed him in some other color that's not blue?" He asks her.

She shakes her head at his question, "Of course I have, I bought so much clothes in so many colors, but as soon as he outgrew it I bought more blue clothes. You could say that half his wardrobe is some shade of blue."

"My mom used to be the same with colors," Mark told her.

Lexie gave him a soft, sad smile as she reached over to take Zack out of the tub, but he soon begins wailing and sprinkling both Mark and Lexie with water, "Ok, Zachary Sloan, that's enough," she says with the most stern voice she can manage with the little baby. "You never do this," she says and then looks over at Mark. "I swear he never does this," she apologizes.

Mark shakes his head dismissing her apology, "It's fine," he tells her and then takes Zack out of his tub and wraps him in the small soft towel. "How should I dry him?" he asks her.

Lexie moves closer to him, "You just need to press slightly the towel against his skin. Like with burn victims," she tries to explain him in a way that he could understand better.

He nods and presses the towel extremely soft against his body, "Like this?" he asks

Lexie laughs shaking her head; "Though we already know he _is _quite fragile you can actually press it harder, maybe a little harder than with a burn victim but not enough to hurt him."

Mark looks at her and remains staring at her eyes for a second too long, she looks up at his slate blue eyes and smiles softly. He can see the pinkish color begin appearing in her cheeks and he guesses its just that the bathroom must be getting hot. _She just showered, probably the heat from the steam because I'm also getting a little hot. Maybe my face is also getting red. _

"I think we should get going," Lexie says, barely being able to find her voice.

Mark nods, "Yeah, we are going to miss the appointment," he agrees.

* * *

They arrive the hospital around eight thirty in the morning. Mark, who insisted on stopping at Babies R Us for a stroller, is pushing Zack in it.

"You are crazy," Lexie says as she watches Mark interact with her son.

Mark looks at her confused, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you went at eight in the morning to buy a stroller for your son, who by the way, already has a carrier," Lexie explains.

Mark shrugs, "I don't care about it. Plus if you haven't realized this stroller can also convert into a carrier. _By the way_, he is _our _son."

"I did notice," she tells him. "Because you wouldn't buy it if it wasn't multifunctional and safe and many other things that I decided on not paying attention," she tells him as they walk to the nurse station in the maternity wing.

"Dr. Grey!" greets the nurse, "I talked to Dr. Thorne, and she said she can have you come in now because she had a patient cancel."

"Perfect," Lexie says, "Do you know how long it'll take? Because Zack has to go to his appointment in about half an hour."

"Not much," responds the nurse, "It's just to make sure everything is fine."

Lexie nods and looks at Mark, "Would you mind waiting? I would rather get cleared right now," Lexie tells him.

"For what?" He asks.

She shrugs, "They have to make sure everything is healing the way it should be, from Zack's birth."

Mark nods, "Do you want us to go with you?"

Lexie shakes her head, "No, you don't have to."

"I don't care," he tells her, "I'll just be sitting with Zack in a corner."

She nods, "Okay…"

The door at their right opens and Dr. Thorne comes over to them, "Are you ready?" she asks Lexie with some excitement in her voice. Lexie knows that Dr. Thorne loves being a doctor and her bedside manner is probably the best there is.

Lexie smiles at her, "Yeah," she says as Dr. Thorne walks inside her office and Lexie, Mark, and Zack follow.

"Is this Zack's daddy?" She asks.

Lexie nods, "Yeah."

"Dr. Mark Sloan," he says stretching his arm out.

Dr. Thorne takes it, "Plastics?" Mark nods, "Pleasure to meet you," she says as she walks to the stirrups and asks Lexie to change into a gown and to come sit in the stirrups.

"How has everything been? Any pain? Discomfort?" Dr. Thorne asks as she begins checking on Lexie.

Lexie instead of answering right away shifts her eyes in between Zack and Mark, and the ceiling. She never had liked coming for check ups when she was a teenager, and much less when she was pregnant, "Everything's been fine."

"Good!"

Lexie nods and looks at Mark who's looking at her face, he smirks at her, "Having fun over there?"

"Could do this all day long," she responds, the sarcasm isn't lost in her voice.

Dr. Thorne looks at her, "Don't worry about it, I'm almost done and everything looks perfect," she tells her as she begins to put her tools away and then tells Lexie she can go change.

Lexie comes back after a minute, now fully dressed. She takes a sit next to Mark, right opposite from Dr. Thorne.

"Okay, everything seems to be alright. The stitches seem to have fallen off on their own and there is no reason why you couldn't have sex again," Dr. Throne tells Lexie.

Lexie smiles, "That's good. The only thing that's wrong right there is that now I need to find a penis."

Dr. Thorne laughs at her comment; "You also have to use protection unless you don't mind Zachary having a sibling this early."

Lexie shakes her head, "Oh no way! Zack will have to wait many many _many _years before I even think of giving him a sibling," she looks over at Mark. "Unless you give him one."

Mark shakes his head, "I agree, I am happy with Zack, plus I'd have to find a uterus first," he comments with her words.

Lexie and Dr. Thorne both laugh, "Are we done then?"

Dr. Thorne nods, "Just go sign off the papers at the nurse station and we are all done," she says standing up and opening the door.

"Thanks," Mark and Lexie say in unison.

She nods again, "Good luck," she says closing the door to her office.

"She is quite a happy person," Mark notes.

Lexie nods, "Sometimes a little to much," she comments signing off some papers, "Ok, we are just on time for Zack's appointment."

They walk away together towards Zack's pediatrician Lexie is still feeling uncomfortable by the check up.

Mark looks at Lexie, whom, he is more than sure is extremely uncomfortable by the way she is walking with her legs a little far apart. For someone who doesn't know her, or isn't paying attention wouldn't notice, but he had been looking at her for a while already and did definitely notice. " Are you okay?" he asks gesturing at her midsection and legs.

"I'm just a little uncomfortable," she explains as they arrive the waiting area in the peds. wing. "It's just something _really_ awkward. It's like if someone stuck tools and fingers into you…" she trails off gesturing at is midsection.

Mark winces, "Yeah…"

Lexie nods.

"Zachary Sloan," calls Alex from one of the offices.

Lexie's eyes light up immediately, "Hey," she says hugging him. "Are you on peds again?" she asks at him laughing. She knows that Alex acts as if he hates peds and is all for plastics, but on the inside he really loves peds.

Alex nods, "Yup, but luckily for this little guy," he begins as he takes Zack out of his stroller and holds him giving Lexie a kiss on her cheek, "I happen to be an amazing doctor," he tells her with a smirk.

Alex pushes the door open so that Mark can enter with the stroller. Alex places Zack on the examination table and looks over at Mark and Lexie, "Ok, so how you probably already know I just need to make sure he is growing well and I also have to give him some vaccines. It will most likely hurt him, but that's to be expected, I also will answer any questions you may have," Alex tells them in a matter-of-fact way.

Lexie tries to suppress the laughter, "Sounds like a plan Dr. Karev."

"I know, the freaking professionalism a peds doctor needs to present towards the parents is just a little to much sometimes," He begins undressing Zack ready to begin with the check up, "Were you able to go to your appointment?" He asks her.

Lexie nods, "Freaking uncomfortable, but I have been cleared," she tells him.

Mark meanwhile is standing at the opposite side from Alex and Lexie watching their interaction. He doesn't like it and he feels like punching something.

"Back on the saddle already?" Alex asks smirking at her.

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, "Are you kidding me? Find me someone and I'll be more than happy about going out on a date… Plus I do have a lot of pent up sexual frustration going on."

"Well you know that Pierce has a thing for you… So does O'Malley and–"

Lexie cuts him off immediately, "Don't, you know I don't even want to go there."

"I thought you wanted to liberate yourself from the sexual frustration," he comments as he moves away from the table and prepares the injections.

Mark still feels like punching something, and now Pierce and O'Malley seemed more appealing than ever. _Why the hell do I want to punch them? I should be happy for Lexie. She can go out on a date and I should also try to date someone… Maybe Callie has some friends I could meet._

"You know I don't really get along with Pierce that much, and George's… Well he's George," Lexie decides to change topics swiftly, "How's it going for you and Izzie? Are you guys together?"

"Not wasting any time, huh?" He asks sarcastically, "And no, but we are working towards it. We have gone to dinner a few times and we make it a point to keep conversation as normal friends."

Lexie smirks, "You mean not like our weird–" she covers Zack's ears and he fusses a little, "ass conversations?" she takes her hands off from Zack's ears as Alex begins to inject him. Surprisingly Zack doesn't cry at all, though he does scrunch his face in pain.

"What do you think dude?" Alex asks Mark, "Should Lexie date Pierce or George?"

Mark shrugs, "I honestly don't think they are what Lexie needs. I mean Pierce acts like a twelve year old and George failed his intern exam."

"So what? Who do you think should date me?" Lexie asks him.

Once again he shrugs, "I don't know. Someone with brains and old enough for you."

Alex quickly finishes with the injections and vaccinations, "Okay, I'm sure neither of you has any questions so we are pretty much done here," Alex tells them.

Mark and Lexie nod, they head to the nursery and then their respective locker rooms ready to start their day.

* * *

**A/N: In case you guys didn't catch on it what Lexie told Zack in the morning WAS heard by Mark but he was still half asleep.**

**Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey guys! Lately I've been able to post faster but I'm back to full time cheer practice next week and I mean full time as in from 10am to 3pm and then I stay there cause I have team practice from 5 to 7 and I get home later cause I either eat outside or do something else but never go home right away so this is probably my last "quick" update cause then I'm back to school on the 28th and the week before that I'm heading to Florida... Hopefully I'll be able to update soon but I need to finish at least chapter 22 and 23 to do it because I don't want to always be in a rush to post and write.**

**Anyway I hope you guys like this chapter cause we get to see many things happening :)**

**Please review! Reviews truly inspire me!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 9**

"Dr. Grey, what a surprise, you are in McSteamy's service for the third time this week," Cristina said handing Lexie some charts.

Lexie looks over at her resident, "It's not like I asked to be on his service," she tells her.

Cristina places her hands on her hips sassily, "Are you arguing with me? I'm just saying it's weird," she tells her trying to sound innocent. "I mean, you two have a son together and from what the gossip mill's been saying all morning long you came in with him with an extra bag. You know what that means Dr. Grey?"

Lexie shakes her head.

"It means that we know you and Dr. McSteamy had a sleepover," Cristina says.

"Dr. Yang, with all due respect, you have no right in butting in on Dr. Sloan's and my business. And yes, I did stay over at his house, but that was because our son was staying for the first time over at his house," Lexie responds, feeling angry every second more.

Cristina scoffs, "Yeah right, so what? Is your baby making you become a weak-ass surgeon? Can you not hold a scalpel so you rather go to plastics to be with your baby's daddy? Seriously Three, your son is making you go weak before you career even starts and you know what else? We all know you won't make it because–"

"Dr. Yang!" The two young doctors turn around to see Dr. Bailey right behind them, "Am I to believe that you are telling an intern, who had the blessing to have a son, that she won't make it because of said son?" She asks her yelling.

Cristina looks at Lexie and then at Bailey, "Dr. Bailey I was just trying to make her skin thicker. I mean a baby–"

"Dr. Yang, do you think that because I had a son I am any less of a surgeon? Or a woman?" She asks her, "Do you think because Dr. Grey had a son and stayed over at Dr. Sloan's house because she missed her son she is any less of a surgeon or a woman?"

"N–no Dr. Bailey," Cristina answers, her voice giving her nervousness away.

"That's what I though," Bailey says before dismissing Cristina with her hand, "Dr. Grey I would understand if you want to take a few minutes to calm yourself and don't worry about Dr. Sloan, he asked for you and I'm sure he'd _try_ to understand if you are a little late."

Lexie shakes her head, "No thank you Dr. Bailey. Dr. Yang's words didn't mean anything to me because I know she is wrong and her opinion shouldn't matter to me so I think I can go back to work," She tells the shorter woman. "And thank you so much for defending me, I know how much you hate having to butt in when it comes to interns."

"Don't worry about it. I know what it's like to be thought off as weak just because I have a kid, but that doesn't make you weak, I like to believe it actually makes me stronger," she says giving her a sweet smile, "Now, if you don't want to be late you should get going," she tells her.

Lexie nods before walking away.

* * *

"Nice of you to join us Dr. Grey," Mark greets her as she makes her way into the patients room.

"I'm sorry Dr. Sloan," she apologizes.

He waves his hand dismayingly, "You know how fast gossip travels around this place."

Lexie nods softly and hands him over the patient's chart.

"You may present Dr. Grey," he tells her.

Lexie's eyes light up, she opens the chart and begins, "Michael Jones, age 26, has presented cancer in his throat which past exams have lead to believe it has metastasized to other organs as well. He is in for a removal of a small tumor that seems to be the main cause of this," Lexie looks up at the patient and immediately recognizes him, "Mike?" she asks.

"Hey Lexie," he smirks at her, "Or should I say Dr. Grey?"

She laughs, and looks at Mark, who seems to be very confused, "Mike and I met in Harvard, we were together in med school and before that," she looks over at Michael, "Did Jacob come over with you?" she asks.

He nods, "As soon as he heard that I was coming her to Seattle Grace Hospital he hoped on a plane to follow me over here so he must be coming in in about a minute. He misses you, you know?"

Lexie nods, "If his incredibly long e-mails aren't a sign that he misses me then I don't know what is," Lexie smiles softly at her friend. Mark clears his throat and Lexie looks at him, "I'm sorry Dr. Sloan, I'll see you later Mike," she says waving her hand at him. "Just tell me when Jake arrives so I can have a little preparation time."

Mike smiles, "Sure thing," he says.

Once outside Mark looks at Lexie raising his brows.

"The three of us used to be great friends when we were in med school," Lexie tells him, "Jake and I used to date. We broke up a month before we had the one-night stand and then got back together three months later, then we broke up again when I told him I was pregnant and that it wasn't his," Lexie explains.

"Do you still have feelings for him?" Mark asks.

Lexie shakes her head, "I think I don't, I think I stopped having feeling for him the first time we broke up, but then he came to me all charming and it was around Christmas and the environment was a little romantic so I just went for it. When I told him I was pregnant and that he wasn't the father he told me he could be the father… that was the push I needed to break up with him. He couldn't be the father because he wouldn't love Zack and he wouldn't be _the _father," she explains.

Mark nods feeling his heart… _Swell? Is that even possible?_ "What about the e-mails?" he asks her.

Lexie shrugs, "He keeps telling me that he can be the father and that he loves me, but I don't love him, you know? I do care for him, but that's it."

Mark nods as they enter their next patient's room.

* * *

Later that day Lexie goes to Mike's room, fully prepare for the possibility of having to see Jake. When she enters her suspicions are confirmed.

Jake looks up at her with his deep green eyes, "Hey," he smiles softly at her. His eyes sending off some kind of glow that Lexie can't–doesn't want to put her finger on.

She smiles, but it comes a little too forced, "Hi," she says and then looks back at Mike. "Dr. Sloan sent me here to tell you about your results," she says getting closer to him. "The cancer has metastasized to you lungs and liver, Mike," Lexie whispers.

Mike nods, he had always been the strong one between the three of them and is still going to be the strong one even if he isn't well, "What's the prognosis?" He asks her smiling trying to reassure her that he is fine with whatever the answer is.

Lexie shakes her head; "We are still going to operate on the main tumor, if you want, of course. We can try chemo and radiation, there is only a ten percent probability, but the three of us know well enough that patients _have _recovered from percentages as low as one or even zero," she looks quickly at Jake and then back at Mike.

"I know you need to say that to reassure yourself and not me Lexie," Mike tells her grabbing her hand, "If I die then I want to die trying. I will go through everything I need to go through as long as I'm fighting."

Jake smiles, "You've always been quite stubborn, huh?"

Lexie smiles too, "That's the understatement of the year," she heads towards the door. "I'll see you later. I'll try to come over before lunch or after… somewhere in between," she rambles slightly.

"Go, I'm not going anywhere. I promise," Mike tells her giving her a charming smile to which Lexie just shakes her head. When she's about to leave he calls for her. "I was just wondering if we could meet your son," he says but sounds more like a question.

Lexie looks over uncomfortably at Jake and then back at Mike, "Are you sure? You should have your rest, plus he just had his two month check up and he might be–"

"Bring him," Mike says, he looks over at Jake, "You don't mind, do you?"

He shakes his head, "No, I'd actually like to meet him."

Lexie nods, "Okay, then I'll try to come during lunch then," she tells them before going over to the nurse station near the room where Mark is reading off from a chart. "Okay so my friend and ex-boyfriend insist on meeting our son and I agreed, but I can tell them that better some other day if you rather not having Zack meet them… It's completely acceptable and understandable."

Mark at her with a smirk on his face, "I don't care, but you do seem to care. Are you nervous?" He asks almost laughing.

"I haven't been having a good day and you know it. The only good thing was getting cleared for sex, but I happen to have no penis so it's not that good," she explains.

He shrugs, "I have one," he tells her half joking half serious. Trying to hide the seriousness as much as possible making it sound like a joke.

"No, you didn't just suggest what I think you suggested," she warns him raising her index finger up to his face chastising him, though she could feel her insides betraying her words, "You pretty much look at me and I end up pregnant, plus I'm over the senseless sex with someone you're not dating or whatever."

He gives her a smug grin and looks at her in the eye, "You pregnant yet?"

She rolls her eyes, "That's not funny," she begins walking away, "I'll be downstairs charting if you need anything."

Mark smiles looking at her as she leaves, but is soon distracted by a voice.

"Stop looking at her that way, it's scary," Callie says as she puts some charts away.

"I'm not looking at her any differently than how I look at you," he tells her.

Callie shakes her head, "Nope you don't. You look at her just like couples look at each other and having a kid with someone doesn't make you a couple, so don't look at her like that."

Mark looks back at his chart and tries to look from the corner of his eye towards the direction she left, but she is already gone. He shakes his head and closes the chart turning around. He startles a bit when he sees Jacob in front of him.

"Dr. Sloan, I believe you are the doctor who will be operating on my friend," Jake notes.

Mark nods, "Yes, you must be Jacob, Michael's and Le–Dr. Grey's friend."

"I am, and I was wondering if you know anything about where Lexie just headed?" he asks Mark.

Mark feels the urge of that he had of punching someone dissipate and all he wants to do no is bust the bastard's head into a wall, "No sorry, I have no idea where she could've headed to," he tells Jacob.

Jacob nods, "Thanks then," he says before going back into Mike's room.

"Fucking hate that bastard," Mark tells Callie.

Callie looks at him, "Okay…? I think I should get going but good luck with the hate and stuff," she says walking away.

Mark goes look for Derek immediately, to tell him about the dream he had earlier. He totally forgot about it with all the appointments and the new patient.

"Derek?" Mark opens the door to Derek's office after knocking and then takes a sit in front a very busy Derek, "Got any time for a confused friend?" he asks.

Derek closes his laptop and leans in his chair, "Shoot."

"I had this dream earlier today," he begins, "I'm going to suppose you already know that Lexie stayed over at my house last night and I want to clarify that absolutely nothing happened."

Derek nods, "Okay."

"Okay," Mark repeats, "First of all what do you think about dreams?"

"What kind of dream?" Asks Derek a little confused.

Mark shrugs, "I don't know, any kind, things that haven't happened or stuff."

"Are you talking about things that _could_ happen or things that are impossible?" Derek asks his best friend.

"I don't know," Mark responds.

"What I mean is it something like, for example, that the next president of the United States is a Russian? Which could happen if they took over this country, but is pretty much impossible. Or something like a zombie apocalypse that is just not possible at all?" Derek asks, trying to make it clearer.

Mark leans in putting his arms on Derek's desk, "More like the Russian and The States."

Derek nods and ponders for a while, "Well, I think that a dream is like a want. You know, like if you want a dog you'll dream about it."

"Is that what you think?" Mark asks Derek.

Derek nods, "Why?"

"Nothing," Mark says as he stands up and leaves, a very confused Derek simply stares at the door.

Derek sighs, "He'll tell me eventually."

Mark walked over to his office. _Do I like Lexie Grey? _He tries to think of what his shrink would tell him at a moment like this. _It could always be because she is the mother of my son; I could be feeling something towards her because she gave me something so big._

* * *

Lunchtime arrives earlier than Lexie wanted it to, as Lexie is on her way to Mike's room Meredith makes her stop.

"Is it true that you stayed over at McSteamy's?"

Lexie shrugs shifting Zack to her shoulder, "Yeah…"

"You know he'll only hurt you, right?"

Lexie laughs bitterly, "First of all, there is nothing between Mark and me, and secondly don't act all sisterly when it's clear to anyone that you hate me."

Meredith closes the chart she had been reading, "This is me trying to be a good person, Lexie."

Mark comes over to them, "Everything alright?"

Lexie looks over at him, "Would you like to take Zack over to Mike's room so that they can meet him?"

Mark nods, takes Zack from Lexie's arms and walks away.

"I have never done anything to you to receive such treatment from you, _or _from Cristina," Lexie begins, "In fact, I've never done _anything_ to _anyone _to receive such treatment. I know you think I'm a whore because I have a son, and I know that you hate me because of my dad, but that doesn't mean you can treat me like a piece of gum stuck to your shoe."

Meredith raises her brow as she sees a part of Lexie she has never seen before, "Why do you think I hate you or think you're a whore?"

Lexie scoffs, "Oh I don't know… Maybe it's you saying that to everyone and those people telling me. Did you know that Alex and I went to high school together? He has been my best friend for a long time and he tells me everything I need to know even if it'll hurt me because that's what best friends do. They don't just keep that information to themselves." Lexie starts leaving but turns around, "You know? I always wanted a big sister, because big sisters are there for you and even if they fight they always stand by each other's side, but you have ruined that fantasy for me," with that Lexie walks away towards Mike's room, leaving Meredith completely dumbfounded.

Mark enters Mike's room. Immediately the two men turn towards him and the baby.

"Where's Lexie?" Mike asks.

"She's on her way," he states simply.

Jake tries to look over at the baby, "Is that Lexie's son?"

Mark nods, "His name is Zachary," he can't help but feel a little uncomfortable.

Mike sits up on the bed and Mark passes Zack to him, "Wow, he is such a little handsome guy, huh?"

Jake just stares at the son of the woman he loves.

"Oh, hey!" Lexie says as she enters, she looks over at Mark and smiles at him as she sees his eyes glued on the little boy, "Thank you so much for bringing him over," she tells him.

He smiles back at her, "My pleasure," he says before exiting the room.

"You said he's two months?" Mike asks.

Lexie nods with a huge smile on her face, "Exactly two months."

"He is quite long for a two month old," Jake notes.

"He's also very advanced, he doesn't stop doing mini-push ups when he's having tummy time," Lexie tells them proudly.

"I'm still shocked about how long he is," Mike tells her.

Lexie laughs and before she can think she tells them, "He gets that from his dad."

Jake's and Mike's heads turn to look at her, "Do you know who the dad is then?" Mike asks her. He knew all along that she knew about the dad, but she had never told them the name.

Lexie nods, "Yeah."

"And you won't tell us?" Mike asks.

"I can tell you that he happens to be a doctor as well," Lexie tells them.

The two men nod. Lexie notices Jake eyeing Zack.

"You can hold him if you'd like," Lexie offers him.

He nods and Mike passes Zack over to his friend's arms, "You know you _can _tell us. I won't get mad," Jake informs her.

Lexie smiles at him, "I don't know… I mean I'm sure you won't get mad and I'm not telling you guys because of something specifically, but I don't know."

In that moment Mark enters the room again, "Dr. Grey, can you come out here for a second?" he asks her.

Lexie nods and leaves the room for a second, "Is there anything you need Dr. Sloan?"

He shakes his head, "I was just wondering if you are going to be assisting on Michael's surgery? I get it if you rather not," he tells her.

She shakes her head, "No, no, I'm fine assisting on the surgery,"

"Are you sure?" He asks her not wanting to push her into doing something she doesn't want to.

She nods, "Hey, they are asking me who the father is and I don't know what to tell them. I mean would you care if they know it's you because I don't, but I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position, much less that Jake will be knowing."

He smiles at her rambling, "I don't care if they know. I'm proud of being Zack's father and I want the world to know it, so I don't really care what you tell them, and I honestly don't give a shit about Jake."

Lexie nods, smiling slightly before entering the room, "Sorry," she says as she takes a sit on the edge of Mike's bed.

"Is everything alright?" asks Jake.

"Yeah, he was just wondering if I'd be able to assist on the surgery," Lexie tells them.

Mike looks at Jake, "Dude, what were we talking about before Lexie left?"

Jake shrugs, "I think it had to do with Zack and his father…" he says teasingly and then giving him a high five.

Lexie simply rolls her eyes at them, "You're such guys."

"Last time we checked we _were _guys," Jake tells her, "Actually, last time you checked I was a guy."

Lexie furrows her brows, "Do you want me to leave?"

"Fine we get it," Jake says innocently, "We are shutting up."

Mike laughs at their exchange, "Okay, so where were we?"

"Zack's dad," Jake whispers loudly.

"What do you guys want me to say?" Lexie asks them.

"Just tell us who he is," Mike asks, "It's not like we will know who you're talking about anyways."

_Not quite true_. She thinks to herself, "He told me I could tell you… but I just don't want to compromise anything here," she says looking at Jake and then at Mike.

"You won't," Jake assures her.

Lexie takes a good look of her son and smiles at the similarity between him and Mark despite his dark eyes, "You'll think I'm crazy," she tells them shaking her head.

"We won't," Mike reassures her.

Lexie can hear Mark's voice near the nurse station, "If I tell you you'll have to be supportive and understand that I came back to Seattle _and _this hospital because of my family and with no knowledge whatsoever about anything. I mean I just found out who's Zack dad is and well the same goes to him."

The two guys nod and Lexie takes a deep breath.

"It is Dr.–why don't you try to guess better?" Lexie suggests quickly, she begins to fidget a little.

"We barely know any doctors here Lexie," Mike tells her.

"Which doctors have you met?" She asks.

"We've met Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Karev, but we know him from before, Dr. Sloan… and I think that's it," Jake says.

"Oh and also Dr. Webber, but I'm sure he's not the father considering your son's ethnicity," Mike states.

Lexie nods and she can soon feel the pressure behind her eyes. _Why am I about to cry? I know Mark wants them to know, but is it because I don't want them to know? Is it because of Jake? _She clears her throat, willing the tears away from her eyes, "It's Dr. Sloan," she says.

Both, Mike's and Jake's heads snap right at her direction, completely unprepared for that answer.

"Is that why he brought him over?" Mike asks.

Lexie nods and she can feel the tears beginning to well in her eyes and fall soon after, "It was after that test that pretty much everyone failed but I got an A plus… I was at the bar and he was there…" she shrugs believing there isn't much need to explain what happened.

"Did you know it was him all along?" Jake asks.

She nods, "I didn't know it was _him _him, but I did know the name was Mark Sloan. When I came here Zack was diagnosed with Hyper-mobility and Mark did a paternity test to make sure I wasn't making it up," she says, sniffing softly.

"Lexie," Mike says soothingly, "You don't need to cry about it."

She looks over at Jake, than other from his past question has remained quite in his seat, "I'm sorry," she tells him.

He shakes his head and stands up to hug her tightly, "I'm sure he must love Zack more than I could ever try to," he says as he kisses her hair softly.

She nods, "I just guess it's been quite a stressful day today and just saying this… I didn't know how you guys would react, and I'm sure that if I had girl friends then they'd be easier to talk to, but I happen to only have guy friends, so it's hard to know what to expect, you know?"

They nod, "How did Alex react when you told him? When did you tell him?"

"I told him after I was almost seven months along, and he was comprehensive, but he has always been like my older brother, you guys are more guy guys," Lexie explains.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jake asks her.

Lexie shrugs, "I don't know, but it seemed like the right thing to say."

Mike and Jake laugh at her answer. Soon Zack starts crying and Mark quickly appears at the door.

"Everything alright?" He asks.

Lexie nods taking Zack from Mike's arms and handing him to Mark, "I guess he's just fuzzy and hungry," she tells him.

Mark looks at her questioningly, "How am _I_ supposed to feed him?"

"True," Lexie laughs, "Is everything ready for the surgery?"

Mark nods, "I'll take him up to the OR and you finish with the little man and go when you're ready."

She nods, "Thanks," she looks back at them and says, "I guess I'll see you later, but in case I don't get to see you before you go under then good luck… Though you won't need it because you're in great hands."

Mark smirks, "Damn right he is."

"I'm gonna go before I get infected with so much testosterone," she says before leaving to an on-call room nearby.

* * *

"We are all set up to start Dr. Sloan," a nurse announces as Mark enters the OR.

He nods and looks down at Mike, "You ready?"

He nods, "As I'll ever be," Mark nods at the anesthesiologist but Mike stops him soon, "Dr. Sloan, I know that you are a great surgeon, that's why I came here to Seattle, but I know how dangerous this procedure is and also I know that my prognosis isn't good… But what I'm saying is that if I do die just tell Lexie that I love her and that she is a great person and best friend, and tell Jake that he is my best friend too," Mike tells Mark.

Mark shakes his head, "You can tell them yourself when you're out of surgery."

"Dr. Sloan, I am the bravest amongst the three of us, but I also am the most pessimistic, I really hope I make it out of this alive, but you just never know. I just need you to tell them that just in case, and I'm going to ask for one more favor I know I shouldn't ask for."

"What is it?" Mark asks.

Mike swallows, "I need you to take care of Lexie. I know she has Alex, who no matter what will always be by her side, but you are the father of her child and she needs to know that you are by her side. I need you to make sure she is fine for herself and for that amazing son of hers… and yours," he explains with a little laugh at the end, "With all due respect, I still find it shocking that you are Zack's father. I mean it in the way that you are the best ENT in this country and what seems like a really great guy. Though Zack sure looks a lot like you, other from the dark eyes, he looks a lot like you."

Mark smiles, "You don't have to worry about Lexie, nor Zack… Actually you don't have to worry about yourself because you are in my hands now and I'll do my best for you to make it out of this room alive."

Mike nods and the anesthesiologist puts the mask on.

"Alright people," Mark begins, "You heard him, this is a very complex procedure and this patient is a friend of Dr. Grey's so let's try to let him get out of this OR alive and with the best probabilities of life."

The surgery starts just fine; Mark takes his time trying not to miss anything and being as meticulous as possible. He makes sure not to leave anything there, and the procedure is advancing at a good pace, and better than he expected for just thirty minutes into the surgery.

"Debbie, could you please hand me the cauterizer?" Mark asks.

She nods, "Here, Dr. Sloan."

Mark carefully begins cauterizing as he sees the image of the tumor on the screen in front of him, "Ok, this is really close to the carotid so this has to be done slowly and with really stable hands."

The small group of residents inside the gallery nod.

"Can someone page Dr. Grey and ask her if she will come, please," Mark asks one of the nurses.

A petit blonde nods her head and goes to the phone to call, "She says she will be here soon, Dr. Sloan. Something about taking a baby to the nursery?"

Mark nods as he removes the cautery from Mike's throat and handing it back to Nurse Debbie. The monitors begin beeping irregularly and Mark looks at the anesthesiologist, "What's going on over there Dr. James?"

He shakes his head, "Dr. Sloan, it's not over here."

Mark begins moving the camera around the Mike's throat trying to see if he missed anything, "There it is," He says quickly, "There is a bleeder in the carotid."

"An internal bleed of the carotid?" A nurse asks.

Mark nods, as he asks for the cautery again and tries to seal the bleed, "Crap this is not working!" He exclaims frustrated and soon begins taking the cautery out and hands the camera to Nurse Debbie and begins compressions.

They all turn to the automatic doors that are opening, showing Lexie standing right there. She quickly puts on the mask and runs over to Mark's side, "What happened here?"

Mark shakes his head as he continues to do the compressions, "He's carotid," he states simply.

"Let me try to do the compressions," Lexie says, frustrated about it not advancing in any positive way.

Mark steps back, knowing that fighting with Lexie over this won't help matters.

"Come on Mike," Lexie begins whispering as she thrusts her arms and body weight into Mike's chest, "Come on, come on, come on…" She can already begin to feel the tears welling in her eyes, "Jake said it. You are too stubborn to go down without a fight!"

She can feel Mark grabbing her by the shoulders and trying to pull her away, but he is surprised to see how strong she is, "Lexie, there is nothing left to do," he whispers softly.

Lexie shakes her head roughly, "No! He has to make it! He said he wouldn't go down without a fight!"

Mark can't seem to get he out of the way so he looks at Nurse Debbie and says slowly, "Time of death, 2:32."

Lexie keeps shaking her head and whispering, "Come on, Mike… You have to make it! You promised you'd always be my friend and that you'd be there every step of the way in my life. I know we haven't talked much lately, but I am still holding you to the being-there-in-my-wedding-day, helping-you-cry, things we've said," she sniffs softly and shakes her head, "You have to be alright because you are the one who helped me gain strength throughout med school."

Mark shakes his head at Lexie's behavior. He would normally understand it from a family member or a friend, and in this case Lexie _is _a friend, but a friend who chose to assist a high-risk surgery on her friend. Not being able to take it any longer, carefully, he uses all his strength to move her out of the way, "Dr. Grey! This kind of behavior is not acceptable in any OR of this hospital… Nurse Debbie, please take Lexie to the hallway and make sure she stays there."

Mark watches as Debbie and Lexie go out of the OR and he orders the remaining staff in the OR to close up and fill in the paper work as he takes off his scrub cap and mask and leaves the OR. He can hear Lexie's sweet sobs… _What the hell! Did you just call her sobs sweet?_ He shakes his head trying to get those thoughts out of his mind as he goes look for Jacob in the waiting area. _You can't think of her that way… much less of her pain and suffering right now._

He sees Jacob stand up from his seat as soon as he sees him. Mark knows he's a doctor too from what Lexie explained and from the look on his face, Mark knows, Jacob knows what happened.

Jake shakes his head, "Please don't."

"I'm very sorry, we did everything we could, but the strain from the surgery was too much for him too handle," Mark explains.

Jake keeps shaking his head, "Oh god… Where's Lexie? Is she alright?"

"No," Mark tells him, "She's not alright," he says before walking away to find Karev.

* * *

**A/N: So this was a sad chapter for Lexie :'( What do you guys think about Jake? What do you guys think about Mark believing the Lexie crush thing is a dream?**

**Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: No, you guys are NOT dreaming! I finally updated! I know it's been so long since I do and I have been just so lazy to organize my schedule or to do anything at all these past few (many) weeks. I really want to thank you all because you have been great readers and reviewers and that is something I really need since the few past chapters I've been writing lately are too complicated and just not a nice place (these chapters are like around 20, 20-something so don't worry just yet.)**

**Anyway here is next chapter and I hope you enjoy it!**

**Please review!**

* * *

CHAPTER 10

After being paged 911 to the OR floor, Alex rushes as fast as he can. He runs past some patients and doctors as he gets to the OR board. He looks around confused, "What's going on? Who paged me?"

"I did," Mark replies.

Alex looks at him even more confused than before, "Why did you page me 911? Is Zack all right? Is–"

"Mike died," Mark interrupted, "I'm gonna suppose you know about Mike, Lexie's friend, and tell you that he just died during surgery… I was hoping you'd be able to help out because Lexie's not dealing with this."

Alex nods, "Where is she?"

"In the on-call room around the corner."

Alex quickly runs to the on-call room and opens it, revealing Lexie crying in the bed, curled up. He walks slowly to her side and takes a sit and rubbing her back, "Lex…" She shakes her head whimpering, "Lex, you can't do this to yourself. You know he'd hate to see you this way, and I don't know him as well as you do."

"He said he wouldn't die without a fight, Alex," she explains, "He promised he wouldn't die without a fight."

Alex sighs, "That was probably all the fight he had in him before dying. You knew well how dangerous this surgery was, you told me yourself," he reminds her trying to make her see the reality of the situation.

"I just don't know," she says shaking her head and sniffing, "He was so strong just a few months ago. We were talking about our future plans _just a few months ago_! And he just died! Out of nowhere, he died."

Alex lays down hugging her, "Lex…"

"No! Alex, don't you understand that one of my closest friends just died? That such an amazing person died?" She asks him.

"Lexie… I can't help you if you won't let me help," Alex tells her.

"Then don't try to help… I don't want to receive any help right now," she says turning around, giving her back to Alex.

"Fine," he sighs out loud and leaves the room.

Mark walks up to him, "Could you make her… feel better?" he asks.

Alex shakes his head, "She's not in the mood of being helped just yet. She just needs some space to try to digest everything that's happened," he says walking back to his job.

Mark takes a deep breath before entering, he sees Lexie's shaking body, "Lexie," he begins as he takes a sit by her feet, "I'm so sorry for yelling at you."

She doesn't respond at all.

"Let's go," Mark orders her, "I'm taking you home," he says as he walks to the door, but Lexie doesn't even move an inch, "Lexie!" He says as he walks up to her and helps her sit up and then stand up. "I swear that if I have to carry you to the locker room to change and then carry you in my shoulder as I push Zack's stroller to my car I will, so don't test me."

Finally he receives some signal from her that she's still alive as she nods, and takes her hand and helps her go change. He wraps his other hand around her waist and she rests her head on his chest as they walk to the locker room.

Once they arrive Lexie begins changing slowly and Mark picks up his phone and calls the chief telling him that he's taking Lexie home for personal reasons and that he'll be right back. He then looks over at Lexie who is finishing dressing as she puts on her flats and goes back to her former position under Mark's protection as they go to the nursery to pick Zack up.

They arrive home and Mark explains to Susan and Thatcher what happened at the hospital, he helps Lexie up the stairs and puts Zack in his crib, making a mental note to buy him a new crib while he is still in Lexie's room since he's about to outgrow his own.

He goes back downstairs and Susan stops him, "Would you like some coffee, Mark?" she asks, "It's a little past four o'clock and I wouldn't like for you to leave just like that."

Mark shakes his head, "Thank you for the offer, but I think I should just get back to work, you can call me if any of you need anything, or if Lexie or Zack need anything."

Susan smiles at him, "We sure will," she says as she accompanies Mark to the door and waits for him to leave in his car.

* * *

Later at night Susan begins to grow frustrated with Lexie's unwillingness to do anything, even attending Zack. The only thing she can think about doing is something she didn't want to have to do, but due to Lexie's behavior was left with no other option.

Susan went up to her room and picked up her cell phone.

"What are you doing?" asked Thatcher.

"Something I didn't want to have to do at all," she tells him as she begins to dial the number on her phone and waits for it as it rings twice.

"_Hello,_" Mark answers.

"Hey Mark, it's me, Susan… I was just wondering if you could come over to pick Zack up?" she asks him.

"_Um, sure. Is Lexie alright?_" He asks her.

Susan sighs, "She has been laying in bed ever since you brought her home, and won't even get up to feed Zack. I love my daughter, but she is in no state to take care of your son," she explains.

_"I'm on my way," _Mark tells her before hanging up.

Susan sighs once again and takes a sit on her side of the bed, "I can't believe what I just did, but I just had to do it."

Thatcher nods, "It's the right thing. Lexie isn't in a fair state of mind to take care of herself, let alone Zack… Do you ever think maybe her having had a kid at her age wasn't what she needed."

"I do," Susan responds, "But it's not like she asked for a baby, plus can you imagine life without Zack?" she asks her husband with a big grin.

Thatcher smiles at her, "No I can't… Though I find it hard to believe I'm a grandpa already."

Susan laughs and gets up from bed, "I think I better go pack a bag for Zack and wait for Mark to get here."

Thatcher nods, as she leaves the room.

After fixing up a bag for Zack and waiting for fifteen minutes Mark arrived.

"Is everything here?" He asks her as she hands him the bag.

"Yeah, you can go get Zack if you like. He's in Lexie's room."

Mark nods and hurries up the stairs and into Lexie's room, "Lex, your mom called me and asked me if I could take Zack for the night, he's going to come with me tonight and I'll bring him over first thing in the morning."

Lexie whimpers softly, "Please don't, he's all I have right now."

Mark can feel his heart shatter to hundreds of pieces, "That's not true Lexie. You have Alex and your parents and you even have me," he tells her.

"Please don't take him, just please don't," she begs him, "I will get better. I will feed him... I just need a few more minutes."

"Lexie, Zack is hungry and tired. You can't just ask him to wait for a few minutes," He explains to her.

"I just can't be alone tonight," she tells him.

Mark sighs, growing a little frustrated, "I can call Karev if you need, and even Jacob if that'll help. He was asking for you at the hospital earlier, maybe they could both come over, but Zack needs to be attended to right now, and you can't do it."

"Then you stay," she whispers, "Please, I just can't be alone. Not today."

Mark runs his hand through his hair, "Fine," he says as he takes Zack out of his crib and hands him over to Lexie, "Prove to me that you _can _take care of him right now, and if you can't, I won't think anything less of you. I understand you need some time and I understand if you just can't handle everything right now. But Lexie, Zack needs someone to be there for him. He needs his mommy."

She nods as she sits up and adjusts him to a comfortable position to feed him, she looks up into his eyes and swallows hard, "I am not holding you to what you said to me in the OR or for what happened to Mike. I may have been mad at first because I needed to blame someone that wasn't Mike. I blamed everyone, you, Jake, even myself," she looks down at Zack, "I just find it hard to believe that less than an hour before that I was talking to him and he was meeting Zack, and the next he's no longer there anymore… Life's too short, and I know all about his dreams and everything he wanted to accomplish, and he didn't get to do anything of it."

Mark nods, "It's alright, you'll be in pain for a while, but you will get better," he tells her.

"I know I will, but I'm just afraid of loosing someone else," she explains to him, "I don't want for anyone else to die so suddenly. I can't handle anyone dying, and today proved me that you can die any second. I'm afraid something could happen to my parents, or Alex, or Zack, or you," she tells him as she breaks down crying again. "I couldn't be able to handle another death and much less of a magnitude like such."

Mark takes her into his arms and kisses her head, "You don't have to worry about it. It is true, death is just at the corner, but you can't live life being afraid of it. You should be afraid of other things, but not death. Mike's not suffering anymore and he will be fine. Plus I am almost sure that no one is going to die anytime soon."

She looks up at him, their faces inches apart, "How can you be so sure?" She asks whispering.

"I just try to convince myself that everything will be just fine. You can't be afraid of that."

Lexie nods trying to take deep breaths.

"Are you feeling better?" Mark asks after a few minutes of silence. He had noticed a couple minutes ago that she had calmed down and was humming softly to Zack, who is still in her arms being fed.

She looks at him and nods, "Much."

"Good," he whispers hoarsely against her hair. "I think you'd like to know that the chief has given you five days off for you to grieve and just take your time."

Lexie nodded against his chest, "You can go home if you want to," she tells him. "I know I pretty much had a break down b–"

"_Pretty much_?" Mark asked her raising his brows.

"Fine I had a break down, but my point is that you don't need to stay here. I'm sure you'd rather go to your house," Lexie explains.

He shakes his head; "I'm not leaving you alone. No matter how much you want me to," he responds.

"Mark, I–I'm, it's not that I want you to leave, but Zack is your only obligation here, not me," Lexie says trying to explain to him that she didn't want to make him feel like she was taking advantage.

"Well I don't care. I'm going to stay here because like you just said, Zack is my obligation, but you are his mom and I need to make sure you are alright as well," Mark tells her.

Lexie sighs surrendering to his will to stay and walks over to Zack's crib after putting the shirt back on.

Lexie goes back into bed and pulls the covers over them, she lays down, curled with her arms tucked in underneath her head. She looks at Mark as he begins stroking her hair and closes her eyes, but opens them immediately when her phone begins ringing and Mark's hand flies away from Lexie.

Lexie groans as she looks at who the caller is.

Mark asks her if everything's fine by raising his chin and Lexie mouths "Jake," making Mark laugh softly.

"Hello?" Lexie asks at the other side of the line and puts it on speaker.

Both of them can listen to Jake clearing his throat, "_Hey_," he answers. Lexie can tell by his hoarse voice that he's been crying recently, "_I just wanted to know if you're fine. I heard you left the hospital earlier and… How are you feeling_?"

"I have been better," Lexie tells him, "I'm still trying to understand and just trying to feel better."

"_Are you going to the hospital tomorrow to see him_?" Jake asks her.

Lexie thinks for a few seconds, "I think I will go, I know there is now way I'll be able to go to his funeral since it'll be in Boston, so I guess I'll just say my last goodbyes tomorrow," she answers trying really hard not to break down again.

He is silent for a few seconds and the asks her, "_I was wondering if you'd like to go out, catch up and just try to take a break from all of this. I'll be leaving in two days and I just can't do nothing… So what do you say_?"

Lexie looks at Mark, who seems to be interested with something outside of the window and looks back at the phone, "I'm not sure Jake…" she sighs deeply. "It's been a tough day for me in general, and it'd be unfair for me to say yes to going out… How about I tell you tomorrow?"

"_Sure_," Jake says, "_I guess I'll see you tomorrow then._"

"Goodnight," Lexie sighs tiredly before hanging up and going back to her previous position and falling asleep quickly.

Mark sighs; the second Jake asked Lexie out he felt something weird. Like if he had been punched or something. Taking a deep breath he begins stroking her hair. _She looks so peaceful, _Mark thought to himself. He clears his throat softly and leans in to her ear and whispers, "I think I'm beginning to like you more than friends should like each other," whispering and remains in that same position for a few more minutes, before the door opens up slightly, making Mark separate himself from Lexie and drawing his hand back to his side.

Alex looks from the door slowly, having been warned by Susan that Mark was there and stays by the door as he sees Mark's hand stroking her and seconds later it's by his side, "I just came to see how she was doing," Alex explained.

"She's asleep," Mark tells him.

Alex nods and moves over to Lexie's side and nudges her arm.

Lexie tries not to open her eyes immediately because she's sure she would reveal to Mark that she had just heard what he said and instead groans softly.

"Dude, wake up," Alex tells her.

Lexie opens her eyes slowly and looks over at Alex, "What are you doing?"

"Checking up on you," he tells her, "How are you doing?" he asks her.

Lexie gives him the look she always gave him to tell him that she needed to tell him something urgent, but from the looks of it she can't do it with Mark right there. She looks at Mark and then at Alex, "I think I'm going to go to the kitchen to get a glass of water and some pills because I have a huge headache," she looks at Alex, "Let's go."

As they leave the room Mark sighs and stands up to check on Zack who's still sleeping in his crib. He leans down and he can perfectly listen to his soft, even breathes, and just stays there looking at his son.

"What's wrong?" Alex asks Lexie as she paces in the kitchen.

Lexie begins biting on her nails as she keeps on pacing, "Um, Mark he thought that I was asleep, and he said something that I should have not heard," she whispered loudly.

Alex grabs Lexie's wrist and takes her hand away from her face and makes her stop, "Ok stop doing that because that's just annoying… What did he say?"

Lexie looks at Alex and takes in a deep breath, "He said, 'I think I'm beginning to like you more than friends should like each other'. Exactly those words," she tells him.

Alex's expression softens, "Oh." Lexie feels the urge to slap him straight across the face, but instead just slaps his shoulder, "Ouch! What was that for?"

"_Oh_? Really? The father of my son tells me that he likes me and that's all you can think of saying?" Lexie hisses.

Alex begins rubbing his shoulder, "Damn woman you slap like a dude!" he tells her taking a seat at the kitchen island, "How do you feel about it? Do you like him? Do you need me to punch him?"

Lexie groans and puts her hands on her face, "I don't know! I think I do like him, but one of my closest friends just died and my ex-boyfriend invited me out on a "non-"date…" she groans louder this time, "...I do like him."

Alex shrugs, "Then I don't see where's the problem."

"The problem is that he told me that he likes him when he thought I was asleep, _not listening to him tell me something like that_!" Lexie whispers loudly throwing her hands in the air.

"I still don't see the problem," Alex tells her.

She shakes her head, "The problem is that I don't think he meant what he said. I don't think he meant it because even if he's caring, he's caring because of his son and our connection, not because of anything else. I think he said it just because I'm the mother of his son, not because he really meant it. Plus even if he meant it, what guarantees me that things will work out? I mean, if things don't work out what do you think will happen with Zack?" she asks, this time crying due to the stress of the whole day.

Alex stands up and places a hand on her back helping her get up to give her, for real, a glass of water and an Advil, "I guess only time will tell, but like I always tell you, I'll be on your side every step of the way," he says giving her a kiss on her forehead and leaving.

Lexie makes her way back upstairs to her room where Mark is already in bed.

"Are you feeling better?" he asks her.

She nods as she crawls back into the bed and Mark pulls her into his arms, where he is sure Lexie can feel his heart betting twice as fast. "I'm feeling much better," she muffles through a yawn by which she can sense the smell of Mark's skin. _The prefect combinations of cologne, soap, and skin ever, _she thinks, succumbing to the imminent sleep.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter! I will try my best not to disappear again, but sometimes it's not really up to me :P**

**Please review!**


	11. Good-bye

Hey guys! I want to start by saying that I love you all and that thank you so much for reading and favoriting me and my stories, I also want to say that I wish I would have told you guys this before but until today I made my final decision. This world has been amazing, I grew to love the characters more and more and every time I wrote I had so many ideas and outcomes as to what I could do with these characters and so much more. I started this story with so much hope, although most of it was gone, and I don't know if I would keep on writing about them whether they were still alive or not, but my final decision has been to leave this fandom as it is. I enjoyed my time in it but I really think it's my time to let it go and keep on with my life without them because no matter how many time we write about them all we are doing is just bringing back memories of what could have been and not what it is. I hope you guys understand and that you stay in this fandom for as long as you want without any bitterness or sadness about them not being on the show anymore. You might see me maybe with fiction about books or another tv show sometime, I don't have any plans on writing fan fiction for anything at the moment but who knows, I might start sometime soon, what I do know is that I'm not coming back to the Grey's world, at least not for Mark and Lexie as much as it may hurt at first.  
Also take your freedom on continuing this story in your minds however you would have liked it to continued and ended. Also I don't want you guys to think that it was because I ran out of ideas because it didn't, I had written up to chapter 23 or 24 but I won't post them.  
I love you guys so much and once again I'm sorry.


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